PoHo on Studio 10 this morning, talking health care reform
Catch me at 10 a.m. on 10 Connects’ Studio 10. We talk health care today. Think I can unveil my proposal for death panels?
The Political Whore
Florida’s leading source for inside information on politics and media
Town hall eruptions show larger problem than health care reform
By Ben Luongo
PoHo contributor
Our debate on health care reform has been a disappointing state of affairs. Stories of town hall meetings turning violent and reports of organizations planting disruptors are hardly proud examples of a successful democratic process. It speaks volumes of how political a society we have come to be.
Click after the jump to watch what has been happening in Florida.
At Save the Tortillas, overeaters are like drug addicts and should not be enabled
By Catherine Durkin Robinson
PoHo contributor
Catherine Durkin Robinson is a “feminist mother of twins” and a political blogger, working under the title Out in Left Field.
This is not an easy post to write.
I struggle with my weight. Eating right and exercising takes effort and I work at it every single day. As President Obama encourages a national conversation about health care, what often gets overlooked is the part we play in our own demise.
Health Care Tea Party targets Sen. Bill Nelson’s Tampa office next week
The anti-ObamaCare folks at Dick Armey’s Army, Freedom Works, have planned a Tea Party rally next Thursday in Tampa. Details after the jump:
The federal deficit, and perceptions of it, start to imperil Barack Obama’s health care reform
By Mitch Perry
PoHo contributor and anchor of the WMNF Evening News on 88.5 FM community radio
Health care reform in Washington is in peril.
In the words of Maryland Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski late last week, “Obviously this is not going to go as fast as we thought.”
The promise of reforming health care has been a singular focus of President Barack Obama — well, along with dealing with the banking crises, the foreclosure crises, and getting the economy recharged.
But now that crunch time is approaching, the various voices that comprise the debate in Washington are speaking up, and some groups previously considered as potential allies, (such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) are now speaking critically of the legislation being discussed right now.
Video: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is up for sale
Watching this video, for a journalist, is akin to sitting in on a doctor telling a patient he/she has terminal cancer. (click for link, since the video didn’t embed.)
If the paper doesn’t sell in 60 days, it will stop publishing the print edition and either close shop entirely or do an online-only news outlet.
The health-care tithe
Wade T over at Tampa Calling dropped by my desk this morning to talk about the nation’s health care crisis. He’s got a simple idea: a 10 percent “tithe” by every American wage-earner to fund universal health care. So call him an idealist, call him a dreamer, call him a socialist, here’s his plan for your review and commentary:
I’m one of the lucky ones. I’ve enjoyed full health care coverage since the day my mother gave birth to me at the Hershey Medical Center, one of the finest hospitals in the country. My parents have always been there for my three younger siblings and I. Thanks to hard work and a great deal of good fortune, they’ve been able to provide for us generously.
While at USF earning the college degree that Mom and Dad are still paying for, I came down with a crazy stomach ailment. I went from weighing 145 to 111. I looked sickly. The doctors didn’t know what was wrong with me. The insurance company fought to keep me from seeing certain specialists. I was miserable and depressed and content to eat the painkillers I was prescribed and just mope around.
My parents would not have it. Mom wrote letters tot he insurance company, Dad picked up another part-time job to make sure there was enough money i the bank to pay for the best coverage regardless if the insurance company would ever reimburse us. Eventually, I was diagnosed correctly. I take a pill once a day and am proud to say I now sport a nice little paunch. Thanks Mom and Dad.
So I’m at USF, healthy again, and I decide to write for a living. Yep, I figure it requires no heavy lifting and it might impress the ladies. Maybe I’ll even publish something that moves someone the way my favorite authors, songwriters, poets and journalists move me.
Read the rest of this entry »
Kucinich, Edwards and Sicko
It’s a big night in Tampa Bay for Democratic politics and those addicted to it.
First, $15 will get you a chance to hear from John Edwards, whose presidential campaign is running in third place in Florida and nationally. Edwards is speaking at the Saunders Pavilion at the Lowry Park Zoo on Sligh Avenue in Tampa. The “Small Change for Big Change” grassroots event has a 7 p.m. start time.
For those with even less small change than that, you can meet presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich on the west side of BayWalk in downtown St. Pete from 8:4-9:30 p.m., which coincides with the opening night in Tampa Bay for Michael Moore’s Sicko.
Local Progressive Democrats for America activists will also be on hand, touting John Conyers’ HB 676 national health insurance legislation.
“It’s a tragedy that we have poorer health care in this country than Cuba,” Pinellas PDA chairman Mike Fox said in a news release. “It’s sad to see that a movie like this is needed, but it’s great to see Moore do such an outstanding job.”
