Michael Gaynor
ACORN mission accomplished! Obama elected, Obamacare passed, amnesty next, ACORN dissolving
By Michael Gaynor
"America is facing one of the greatest onslaughts of expanded government in history. Time is short...."
In a organizational statement released on March 22, 2010 (the day after Obamacare passed in Congress), ACORN announced:
"The ACORN Association Board met on Sunday March 21 and approved a set of steps to responsibly manage the process of bringing its operations to a close over the coming months. These include:
ACORN thinks that by dissolving and reorganizing it can escape investigation and exposure, especially exposure of its relationship with President Obama (a very revealing relationship that, ironically, the "Pimp and Pro" ACORN sting helped Obama to distract attention from).
ACORN founder (and master stragtegist) Wade Rathke's last two blog entries at www.chieforganizer.org should be required reading.
"Game Changers on Health and Immigration
"Sunday in the early spring turns out to be a big event for a change in the DC area for two reasons.
"The final votes are being wrangled into the corral for health care reform, and it looks like what Majority Leader Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) calls the 'final yard' will be handled in heart stopping, breath taking fashion with prayers said and fingers crossed. Good news for millions without health care, warts and all.
"And, in momentous timing simultaneously, tens of thousands, certainly no less than 50,000 immigrants and their supporters and maybe as many as 100,000, are rallying and marching to demand real, comprehensive immigration reform after more than a year of suffering through empty promises and holding back anger and what Gustavo Torres, the director of the CASA de Maryland, which is bringing more marchers to the rally than any other organization, calls 'frustration.' If the numbers hit the high end of organizers' hopes, then perhaps immigration advocates will take a lesson from the health care struggle that will be crunching to a close, one way or another, at the Capitol as they pass by on the way to their buses. The immigration organizers might realize that there is a real movement behind them pushing out of the pain and into the streets that must have relief and win reform. Perhaps they will stop stifling the grassroots base and unleash thempor la causa. If they do, and the beltway lobbying machine finally becomes coupled to the strategy and tactics of a movement, then a real bill, and not simply a convoluted politicians' 'framework' might emerge.
"I wonder how different the health care bill might have looked and whether or not these last ditch manueverings would have been necessary had the health care organizers also stopped 'managing' the base, and moved patients, the uninsured millions, and the victims of the current system to the forefront? There's a reason that the politicians don't like to see these messy problems firsthand. It's easier to wheel and deal in the cloakrooms of Congress than to have to wrestle with what the President is calling, 'doing the right thing.'
"The courage of the nuns in the ultra hierarchical Catholic Church is an interesting case study in how the base can trump the brass, or in this case, I should say the bishops. These quotes from an article on their split in the Times says it all for how the game can change:
'When I read the Gospel, where is Jesus? He's healing the lepers,' Sister Simone said. 'It's because of his Gospel mandate to do likewise that we stand up for health care reform.'
'We have a number of nuns in his district, and they've been calling him [Congressman Stupak],' said Sister Regina McKillip, a Dominican nun who lives in Washington. 'Who's been on the ground, in the field? Who knows the struggles people have to deal with? It's the sisters.'
"It's time to listen to the base, the brothers and sisters in the streets and barrios, and let them raise their voices and put their feet to the ground and change the way politics is done by reminding many in Washington, that this is not really a 'game' at all."
"Mary's Vote for Health Care Reform
"On the eve of the dramatic and historic health care vote, I got a letter from a friend, Mary Rowles, who is also a labor official in British Columbia. She had been sick all week with pneumonia and equally ill reading with consternation the mischaracterizations of what reform might mean south of the Canadian border. Perhaps everything that can be say, has been said, about the urgent need for reform, but Mary's clear and simple story of what life might come to mean for ordinary people is worth remembering to root us all more in reality than fearful rhetoric.
It is so distressing watching the hysterical reaction of those opposed to a national health care program. I thought I would share my own experience if you ever need to pull out of your pocket an anecdote about what it is really like if you get sick in Canada.
I called my doctor on a Monday morning, after being sick for a week with a flu that didn't seem to be getting any better. I got to see her first thing Wednesday morning. No charge. She was concerned and sent me for a chest x-ray at the clinic in the next building. After 20 minutes, I had my x-ray in hand. No charge. I also had to stop at the lab for blood work. I waited 30 minutes before I was seen. No charge. I returned with the "evidence" to the doctor who declared I actually had pneumonia and wrote out a prescription. No charge for this second consultation.
I'm supposed to see her in a couple of days to make sure the drugs are working. There will be no charge for this visit.
So how much does an individual pay for health care here in BC? We may be the only province still using premiums to finance the system, instead of a payroll tax on all employers. The rates? The Medical Services Plan charges 57$/month for a single person; $102/month for a couple and $114 /month for a family of three or more.
There are no disqualifications for pre-existing conditions.
A large number of workers do not pay the MSP premiums-they are employer-paid workplace benefits. And at least low income workers are subsidized. If household income is less than 22,000 annually your premiums are 100% subsidized. Even at $33,000 annually you get a 20% discount.
The drugs were not free-they would have been if I was in hospital, but I'm not that sick. Fortunately for me I have an extended health plan through my employer that will pay the $71. This is one of the major flaws that advocates want fixed through establishment of a national pharmacare program. We aren't getting anywhere with this.
There are problems with the system of course, but on balance we receive delivers good healthcare, when we need it, at no charge.
"There is no way to get there without taking the step forward from where we are, and hopefully that will happen on Sunday.
"Mary ended her note by saying, 'Feel free to circulate to any who might need it.'
"Thank you, Mary, I have. Get well soon!"
In sharp contrast to Rathke celebrating a great victory to be built upon and offering comforting words from a Canadian that Obamacare will make things much better, the Sam Adams Alliance (www.samadamsalliance.org) recognizes that America is sick and needs to get well soon:
"The passage yesterday of unpopular new health care legislation marks a sharp turning point not just for our health system, but for the future of the American economy.
"Despite poll after poll indicating Americans were in strong opposition to the kind of reform up for a vote, not to mention the unmistakable warning sign of a Republican taking Ted Kennedy's seat, 219 members of Congress voted yesterday to pass the new legislation. They ignored the polls and the warning signs, but most significantly, ignored their constituents.
"...the House of Representatives can pass deeply unpopular legislation in an election year.... Congress is brazen enough to keep ignoring the wishes of voters...voters can change things in 2010 and beyond.
"America is facing one of the greatest onslaughts of expanded government in history. Time is short...."
© Michael Gaynor
March 23, 2010
"America is facing one of the greatest onslaughts of expanded government in history. Time is short...."
In a organizational statement released on March 22, 2010 (the day after Obamacare passed in Congress), ACORN announced:
"The ACORN Association Board met on Sunday March 21 and approved a set of steps to responsibly manage the process of bringing its operations to a close over the coming months. These include:
- Closing ACORN's remaining state affiliates and field offices by April 1st; and
- Developing a plan to resolve all outstanding debts, obligations and other issues. ACORN's members have a great deal to be proud of — from promoting to homeownership to helping rebuild New Orleans, from raising wages to winning safer streets, from training community leaders to promoting voter participation — ACORN members have worked hard to create stronger to communities, a more inclusive democracy, and a more just nation."
ACORN thinks that by dissolving and reorganizing it can escape investigation and exposure, especially exposure of its relationship with President Obama (a very revealing relationship that, ironically, the "Pimp and Pro" ACORN sting helped Obama to distract attention from).
ACORN founder (and master stragtegist) Wade Rathke's last two blog entries at www.chieforganizer.org should be required reading.
"Game Changers on Health and Immigration
"Sunday in the early spring turns out to be a big event for a change in the DC area for two reasons.
"The final votes are being wrangled into the corral for health care reform, and it looks like what Majority Leader Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) calls the 'final yard' will be handled in heart stopping, breath taking fashion with prayers said and fingers crossed. Good news for millions without health care, warts and all.
"And, in momentous timing simultaneously, tens of thousands, certainly no less than 50,000 immigrants and their supporters and maybe as many as 100,000, are rallying and marching to demand real, comprehensive immigration reform after more than a year of suffering through empty promises and holding back anger and what Gustavo Torres, the director of the CASA de Maryland, which is bringing more marchers to the rally than any other organization, calls 'frustration.' If the numbers hit the high end of organizers' hopes, then perhaps immigration advocates will take a lesson from the health care struggle that will be crunching to a close, one way or another, at the Capitol as they pass by on the way to their buses. The immigration organizers might realize that there is a real movement behind them pushing out of the pain and into the streets that must have relief and win reform. Perhaps they will stop stifling the grassroots base and unleash thempor la causa. If they do, and the beltway lobbying machine finally becomes coupled to the strategy and tactics of a movement, then a real bill, and not simply a convoluted politicians' 'framework' might emerge.
"I wonder how different the health care bill might have looked and whether or not these last ditch manueverings would have been necessary had the health care organizers also stopped 'managing' the base, and moved patients, the uninsured millions, and the victims of the current system to the forefront? There's a reason that the politicians don't like to see these messy problems firsthand. It's easier to wheel and deal in the cloakrooms of Congress than to have to wrestle with what the President is calling, 'doing the right thing.'
"The courage of the nuns in the ultra hierarchical Catholic Church is an interesting case study in how the base can trump the brass, or in this case, I should say the bishops. These quotes from an article on their split in the Times says it all for how the game can change:
'When I read the Gospel, where is Jesus? He's healing the lepers,' Sister Simone said. 'It's because of his Gospel mandate to do likewise that we stand up for health care reform.'
'We have a number of nuns in his district, and they've been calling him [Congressman Stupak],' said Sister Regina McKillip, a Dominican nun who lives in Washington. 'Who's been on the ground, in the field? Who knows the struggles people have to deal with? It's the sisters.'
"It's time to listen to the base, the brothers and sisters in the streets and barrios, and let them raise their voices and put their feet to the ground and change the way politics is done by reminding many in Washington, that this is not really a 'game' at all."
"Mary's Vote for Health Care Reform
"On the eve of the dramatic and historic health care vote, I got a letter from a friend, Mary Rowles, who is also a labor official in British Columbia. She had been sick all week with pneumonia and equally ill reading with consternation the mischaracterizations of what reform might mean south of the Canadian border. Perhaps everything that can be say, has been said, about the urgent need for reform, but Mary's clear and simple story of what life might come to mean for ordinary people is worth remembering to root us all more in reality than fearful rhetoric.
It is so distressing watching the hysterical reaction of those opposed to a national health care program. I thought I would share my own experience if you ever need to pull out of your pocket an anecdote about what it is really like if you get sick in Canada.
I called my doctor on a Monday morning, after being sick for a week with a flu that didn't seem to be getting any better. I got to see her first thing Wednesday morning. No charge. She was concerned and sent me for a chest x-ray at the clinic in the next building. After 20 minutes, I had my x-ray in hand. No charge. I also had to stop at the lab for blood work. I waited 30 minutes before I was seen. No charge. I returned with the "evidence" to the doctor who declared I actually had pneumonia and wrote out a prescription. No charge for this second consultation.
I'm supposed to see her in a couple of days to make sure the drugs are working. There will be no charge for this visit.
So how much does an individual pay for health care here in BC? We may be the only province still using premiums to finance the system, instead of a payroll tax on all employers. The rates? The Medical Services Plan charges 57$/month for a single person; $102/month for a couple and $114 /month for a family of three or more.
There are no disqualifications for pre-existing conditions.
A large number of workers do not pay the MSP premiums-they are employer-paid workplace benefits. And at least low income workers are subsidized. If household income is less than 22,000 annually your premiums are 100% subsidized. Even at $33,000 annually you get a 20% discount.
The drugs were not free-they would have been if I was in hospital, but I'm not that sick. Fortunately for me I have an extended health plan through my employer that will pay the $71. This is one of the major flaws that advocates want fixed through establishment of a national pharmacare program. We aren't getting anywhere with this.
There are problems with the system of course, but on balance we receive delivers good healthcare, when we need it, at no charge.
"There is no way to get there without taking the step forward from where we are, and hopefully that will happen on Sunday.
"Mary ended her note by saying, 'Feel free to circulate to any who might need it.'
"Thank you, Mary, I have. Get well soon!"
In sharp contrast to Rathke celebrating a great victory to be built upon and offering comforting words from a Canadian that Obamacare will make things much better, the Sam Adams Alliance (www.samadamsalliance.org) recognizes that America is sick and needs to get well soon:
"The passage yesterday of unpopular new health care legislation marks a sharp turning point not just for our health system, but for the future of the American economy.
"Despite poll after poll indicating Americans were in strong opposition to the kind of reform up for a vote, not to mention the unmistakable warning sign of a Republican taking Ted Kennedy's seat, 219 members of Congress voted yesterday to pass the new legislation. They ignored the polls and the warning signs, but most significantly, ignored their constituents.
"...the House of Representatives can pass deeply unpopular legislation in an election year.... Congress is brazen enough to keep ignoring the wishes of voters...voters can change things in 2010 and beyond.
"America is facing one of the greatest onslaughts of expanded government in history. Time is short...."
© Michael Gaynor
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
