Oma

I very rarely consider something worth e-mail broadcasting – this one is. We have been caring for Oma more intensely for some time now. And she finally had an unlucky day and broke a hip. Not at all unheard of at her age, but a bit sad all the same. But more to it, she was has received very poor care since. Currently she is being comforted by her eldest daughter Chris. Karolyn will have to go to Oakland tomorrow. Karolyn is out about 2 days and then one day back right now. It’s altogether not so easy right now, but this is family and this is how it goes sometimes. I am taking this situation and waving it in the face the “don’t let government steal healthcare types” who need a cold splash of reality.



I think it’s a story worth telling particularly since Obama is back talking healthcare reform. You are one of my most thoughtful friends – perhaps you can see this posted or sent to get the message out.

In the meantime – the rest of us are well, if not a little preoccupied.

Best.

Scott

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February 24, 2010

President Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
NW Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama,

Crooks and Patsies Oppose US Healthcare Reform While Oma Suffers

My mother-in-law broke her hip on Monday, President’s day. She went to a ManorCare Health Services facility on Tuesday - a supposedly skilled nursing facility. My wife and her family have been making daily trips to make sure she is well. They have found her on the floor, wading in her own urine and abandoned with her intravenous lines pulled out. A horror everyday. Just three days later my mother-in-law had to be transferred out of ManorCare with a dislocated hip. Right this minute she sits in a hospital emergency room because she was sent to the wrong hospital and they won’t admit her.

Our family is well informed, “well insured” and a few of us are health care providers ourselves. We are beside ourselves and everyone is turning their lives inside out to make sure that our Oma is as comfortable as possible. ManorCare, which is owned by the Carlyle “War Profiteer” Group based in Washington DC purchased Manor Care - a formerly well run company - in 2007 for $4.6 billion. Carlyle barrowed against ManorCare’s paid for buildings, put the company in debt and used that money for other investments. They have driven ManorCare into the ground! I’m sick just thinking about the ungodly people who make money by stealing from health care so they can make their rich pals richer.

This is wrong. For-profit healthcare is breaking America’s back. It has dislocated my Oma’s recently replaced hip. And I will see to it that obstructionist bullies who vote against health care reform are put out in the street. They are shills for the “healthdeterrence” and “pharmoverprescription” industries and shame on them.

/s/

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Scott,

Thanks for sharing. I am so sorry to hear about Oma's circumstances. It is good that you are joining your voice with the thousands of others whose experiences have been similarly outrageous. I observe that President Obama hears and understands these stories, and has them firmly in his mind as he faces down the talking points. He has been rather explicit and consistent in expressing this, very notably yesterday.* Did you happen to see any of Obama's Jan. 29th visit to the House GOP Caucus retreat? Worth watching. Summary version (2:12) and full Q&A (66:45) available here.

Many people focus on the so-called 'political theater' of these events, dismissing their significance. Without wading into the debate about the significance (or non-) of the events politically, I very much like the tone being set by the President. Highly substantive. He does not put up with talking-points BS, and is the single most effective starer-down of BS that I have ever witnessed. He is an absolute master of his passions, which enables him to obviate the ancient rhetorical minefields in half a sentence. So if nothing else, it's cathartic and soothing to watch. But I think it's more than that: I recognize his M.O. as a highly effective strategy set, and these events have served as highly visible platforms for him to self-exemplify its use. I expect we will see more and more of this. It's something to root for, and gives me hope.

Best to the whole family,

C&L

Remember way back in 2008, during the big primary, when Rush Limbaugh was telling Republican voters in Ohio and Texas to switch to a Democratic registration just so they could vote for Hillary and screw up the primary? People listened and obeyed, and now it looks like it could be coming back to haunt them:

Victoria Robertson has been an avowed Republican for decades, working tirelessly for conservative candidates and causes.

That is until a typo by a pollworker changed her party affiliation, elections officials say. Now she can’t even run for re-election to the GOP central committee.

“You’re a Democrat as we speak until the primary, and that cannot be changed until you get the right box checked,” Butler County Board of Elections Chairman Tom Ellis told her at a board meeting Wednesday, Feb. 24 — the deadline to certify the May primary ballot.

Now I have no reason to not believe that this was an accident that happened to Robertson. As matter of fact, one of the Democrats on the board even believes so:

“I find it to be a very disturbing situation,” Democratic board member John Holcomb said. “I think it is really a situation that cries out for procedural reform to take that power away from pollworkers.”

I know John and if he believes that then so do I, but there is something else in this article that really got my curiosity going:

Robertson was one of seven candidates for Republican central committee who were disqualified for pulling Democratic ballots in the 2008 primary. She was the only one to contest it, officials said.

Now let me pretend I am a lawyer making some closing arguments. In these closing arguments I want to present all the facts again. Here they are in nice bullet point form:

• Butler County, Ohio has a population of 332,000
• Butler County is a very red county, voting for McCain over Obama in 2008 by 61%-38%
• In 2008 Butler County made national attention when people proudly proclaimed their obedience to Rush stating that they did exactly what he asked for.
• In 2010, the next election cycle, 7 Republicans have been disqualified from running for voting Democratic in the 2008 primary
• In 2010 0 Democrats have had this problem.

Coincidence? Sure, it could be, and unicorns could also roam the earth.

Now let’s think about this. Jumping parties in the primary like people did is actually a crime in Ohio. Out of 7 Republicans having this problem, only 1 has come forward to contest it. And keep in mind that these aren’t just your run of the mill Republicans, these are people who are involved in local politics. They are running for a position that is a foreign word to most people - “central committee”. That means they are devoted to party politics and now are considered to be on the enemy side, yet they aren’t contesting it? Something smells fishy here and I would go back to the plea by the GOP leader, Rush Limbaugh, asking his minions to jump party lines in Ohio in 2008.

....