The KISS Principle

You say you're against the health-care legislation currently working its way through Congress, and you've basing your opposition on what you've been hearing from The Party of No and their agents on talk radio and FOX News that the bill is too complicated?

Well, here's a picture that even folks who let Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity think for them can understand, not that I hold out much hope that they'll bother to look at it.

This is for those of you who are in danger of succumbing to the constant barrage of lies coming from those owned by the health insurance industry.

Click here for a related video and more information.

'Nuff said!

How They Do It

No political rant today. I'm too numb from following the idiocy which passes for thoughtful debate in Washing D.C.

Instead, I offer fresh insight gleaned from the sports page of The Columbus Dispatch which may help Democrats attempting to pass healthcare reform navigate through the opposition to reach their goal.

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Ray Small, who plays for The Ohio State Buckeyes, is one of football's elite, a kickoff and punt returner with the uncanny ability to shred defenses and rack up yardage totals well-beyond what his peers are able to accomplish.

In last week's game against Penn State, Small averaged over eighteen yards on seven returns. Fans watching Small and other kick return specialists often wonder how they know which route to take with teammates, defenders, and officials scurrying and colliding all over the field like balls on a billiard table.

Well, wonder no more, my football-loving friends.

Thanks to my keen eyesight and extensive knowledge of the latest technological advances in electronic gadgetry, I have discovered their secret.

The image below reveals how they do it.

Source: The Columbus Dispatch: November 8, 2009 (with added graphics)

CRAIG HOLMAN DISPATCH Ohio State's Ray Small shows his frustration after being stopped on a punt return. Small wasn't easy for Penn State to catch, averaging 18.6 yards on seven returns.

Let's hope Congress isn't stopped short of passing health-care reform by The Party of No and those who use fear to dupe folks into voting against their own best interests.

And you thought I was serious when I said there'd be no political rant today. ;-)

Time to Get Serious

OK, folks, it's time to get serious. When both the AMA and the AARP come out in favor of the health-care bill currently working its way through Congress, and you're still listening to the naysayers, it’s time to recognize that you’re being played for a sucker.

Those fighting to kill health-care reform are not interested in you or your well-being. They are only interested in political power and maximum profit for themselves at your expense.

End of story. Case closed.

Write, email, or call your congressional representatives and tell them you’re on to the scam and that you expect Congress to pass health-care legislation that protects your interests and not those of the health-insurance industry and their well-paid lobbyists.

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Publication: The Columbus Dispatch; Date: Nov. 6, 2009; Section: Nation & World; Page: A3

AMA, AARP like health-care bill
Groups’ backing contrasts protest from tea partiers

By Erica Werner and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Buoyed by two major endorsements, House Democratic leaders yesterday predicted swift passage of President Barack Obama’s historic health-overhaul initiative.

The president himself declared, “We are closer to passing this reform than ever before.”

With a vote set for Saturday, momentum gathered behind the legislation to remake the U.S. health-care system and extend coverage to millions of the uninsured. The American Medical Association and the powerful seniors’ lobby AARP both threw their weight behind the bill yesterday. AARP, with its 40 million members, promised to run ads to gin up support.

“I urge Congress to listen to AARP, listen to the AMA, and pass this reform for hundreds of millions of Americans who will benefit from it,” Obama said during a visit to the White House briefing room after the endorsements were announced.

At the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, Democrats were listening.

“We are right on the brink,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “We have an historic opportunity for us to again provide quality health care for all Americans. It is something that many of us have worked our whole political lifetimes on.”

Pelosi and other Democratic leaders were working to negotiate final language on abortion and illegal immigration and nail down the 218 votes they’ll need to pass the bill. Obama planned to give them an assist todayAlso yesterday, AARP of Ohio endorsed the House bill.

Joanne Limbach, the AARP’s state president, said that as “Ohio’s congressional delegation prepares to vote, they will hear from older Ohioans.”

Yesterday’s endorsement by the American Medical Association contrasted with the Ohio State Medical Association’s condemnation of the same proposal a day earlier.

Just before Obama appeared before reporters yesterday, thousands of conservatives rallied outside the Capitol where they listened to speaker after speaker — ranging from actor Jon Voight to House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester — denounce the House bill.

“This bill is the greatest threat to freedom that I have seen in my 19 years in Washington,” Boehner said. “This bill will take away your freedom to choose your doctor, the freedom to buy health insurance on your own, and will lead to tens of thousands of new government bureaucrats down the street making decisions for you.”

Actor John Ratzenberger, who played the role of Cliff on the comedy hit Cheers, went even further, charging that “these people who are trying to force this health-care bill upon us are not the philosophical descendents” of President John F. Kennedy, but instead the “philosophical descendents of Abbie Hoffman,” the 1960s anti-war radical.

As the crowd chanted “kill the bill,” many waved American flags or carried signs, including “Stop Obama’s death panels,” or “Obama listens to Mao, I listen to Fox News.”

Sarah Williams, 18, a student at Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia who is from central Ohio, said lawmakers have been getting “tons of e-mails and letters” from people who oppose health-care reform and “they’re still not listening.”

Late yesterday, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, took part in an online chat about health care. He insisted that the bill does not radically change the U.S. system, saying that “we’re doing it building around what we have now. We’re preserving the best we have in the system.”

JOSE LUIS MAGANA ASSOCIATED PRESS

Demonstrators opposing to health-care reform were joined on Capitol Hill by Republican members of Congress. “Kill the bill” was their chant.

Dispatch Washington bureau reporter Jack Torry contributed to this story.

Text Message

Witch goes to show how dangerous it is to text while operating a vehicle.

(If you don't get it, reread the subject.)