"YES WE CAN" v. "Hell No you can't"

This says it all.
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Four Lies about Health Care, CBO Numbers and the Nuns

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." - John Adams

Four Lies About Health care from "St. Louis Today" (click here).

CBO Numbers (click here)

E.J. Dionne, Washington Post, "On Health care, Listen to the Nuns" (click here)

Nobel Prize Winning Economist and Princeton Professor, Paul Krugman
Why We Reform (Click here).
Health Reform myths (Click here).

Palin should apologize (click here)

Truth is a requirement of civil discourse. Too many opposed to health care reform have forgotten the simple commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness."

Obama, Health Care, Abortion and the U.S. Catholic Bishops

Here's a quote from President Obama's speech. Maybe because the "gentleman" from SC was calling the President a liar, people didn't hear the President's clear words about abortion funding. Also, remember, the Hyde amendment is still the law of the land.

"There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false – the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally. And one more misunderstanding I want to clear up – under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place" (President Obama. Speech Sept 9, 2009).

If the health care bill allows tax dollars for abortion, the ads will play that segment over and over again. I can't believe the President and the Democrats would open themselves up for such an attack.

What follows below is from Commonweal Magazine, the respected Catholic journal.

Rick

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http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/?p=4479

Health-care reform & abortion: reax to Obama’s speech

September 10, 2009, 2:41 pm Posted by Grant Gallicho

First up, the National Right to Life Committee: “The claim that a federal agency would be spending private funds on abortion, not federal funds, is absurd on its face, a political hoax,” [NRLC legislative director Douglas] Johnson said.

Next, Bill Donohue: "President Obama is playing a shell game. He defended the public option plan last night, and under that plan, the person in charge of deciding whether abortion coverage will be mandated is his Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius. This is the same woman who befriended George Tiller, the infamous abortionist who specialized in killing babies 80-percent born. Is there anyone who doubts what her decision will be?… Being wrong is one thing. Being deceitful is quite another."

Finally, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: "Calling it an important contribution to a crucial national debate, officials speaking on behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops welcomed President Obama’s September 9 address on health care reform, particularly his statements regarding abortion and the uninsured.

“We agree that ‘no one should go broke because they get sick,’” said Kathy Saile, Director of Domestic Social Development at the USCCB. “That’s why the U.S. Bishops have worked for decades for decent health care for all. The Catholic Church provides health care for millions, purchases health care, picks up the pieces of a failing health system, and has a long tradition of teaching on ethics in health care. Health care reform that respects the life and dignity of all is a moral imperative and urgent national priority. We welcome the President’s speech as an important contribution to this essential national debate and task.”

“We especially welcome the President’s commitment to exclude federal funding of abortion, and to maintain existing federal laws protecting conscience rights in health care,” said Richard Doerflinger, Associate Director of Pro-Life Activities at the USCCB. “We believe that incorporating essential and longstanding federal laws on these issues into any new proposal will strengthen support for health care reform. We will work with Congress and the Administration to ensure that these protections are clearly reflected in new legislation, so no one is required to pay for or take part in abortion as a result of health care reform.”

“We agree with the President that there are details that need to be ironed out,” said Saile. “And with his address last night, we see the opportunity to work towards a truly universal health policy with respect for human life and dignity, access for all with a special concern for the poor, and inclusion of legal immigrants. We also see the possibility of meeting the bishops’ goal to pursue the common good and preserve pluralism, including freedom of conscience and a variety of options, and restraining costs and applying them equitably across the spectrum of payers.”

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Sounds like Donohue is out of line with the Bishops.

USA's Economic Myths Bite The Dust

How many in the USA want to face the truth about where we stand economically? The fact that the distortions and sheer lies put out about health care (propaganda promulgated by powerful interests dedicated to destroying the common good) are believed by so many, reveals the truth that too many U.S. citizens have no knowledge or understanding of our economic situation. Read on. - Rick
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Published on Friday, August 14, 2009 by The Guardian/UK

US Economic Myths Bite the Dust

by Mark Weisbrot http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/08/14-6

The Great Recession is allowing some widely held beliefs about the US economy – which were the source of much evangelism over the last few decades – to run up against a reality check. This is to be expected, since the United States has been the epicentre of the storm of policy blunders that caused the world recession.

This month my CEPR colleagues John Schmitt and Nathan Lane showed that the United States is not the nation of small businesses that it is regularly dressed up to be for electoral campaign speeches and editorials. If we look at what percentage of our overall labour force is self-employed, or what percentage of manufacturing workers or high-tech workers are employed in small businesses – well, the US ranks at or near the bottom among high-income countries.

As economist Paul Krugman noted after reading the study: "One more American myth bites the dust." Indeed it has. And as both the authors of the paper and Krugman note, there is a plausible explanation for the US's low score in the small business contest: our lack of national health insurance. There are enough risks associated with choosing to start a business over being an employee, but the Europeans don't have to worry that they will go bankrupt for lack of health insurance.

A number of other alleged advantages of America's "economic dynamism" are also mythical. Most people think that there is more economic mobility in America than in Europe. Guess again. We're also near the bottom of rich countries in this category, for example as measured by the percentage of low-income households that escape from this status each year.

The idea that the US is more "internationally competitive" has been without economic foundation for decades, as measured by the most obvious indicator: our trade deficit, which peaked at 6% of GDP in 2006. (It has fallen sharply from its peak during this recession but will rebound strongly when the economy recovers).

And of course the idea that our less regulated, more "market-friendly" financial system was more innovative and efficient – widely held by our leading experts and policy-makers such as Alan Greenspan, until recently – collapsed along with our $8tn housing bubble.

On the other hand, most Americans pay a high price for the institutional arrangements that bring us these mythical successes. We have the dubious honour of being the only "no-vacation nation", ie no legally required paid time off and of course some weeks fewer actual days off per year than our European counterparts enjoy. We have a broken healthcare system that costs about twice as much per capita as that of our peer nations and delivers worse outcomes, as measured by life expectancy and infant mortality. We are near the top in terms of inequality among high-income countries and at the bottom for parental leave policies and paid sick days. The list is a long one.

Yet it was just two years ago that Nicholas Sarkozy successfully won the presidency of France by arguing that the French could not afford their welfare state and had to adopt a series of reforms that would make the French economy more "dynamic" like that of the US. These included tax cuts for the rich and labour law changes that would make it easier for employers to fire people.

Many French are now sorry they voted for this guy and very glad that they have more protection than most Americans have from the ravages of the recession. Of course they could also use a larger economic stimulus, but the fact that they don't have one is due to the neoliberal policies of their own government and those of the European Union, especially the European Central Bank.

There is another area where the comparison between the American and European model has serious implications for the future of the planet: climate change. "Old Europe" uses about half as much energy per capita as the US does. A big part of this difference is because Europeans, in recent decades, have taken much more of their productivity gains in the form of increased leisure time, rather than working the same (or longer) hours in order to consume more.

We estimated that the US would consume about 20% less energy if it had the work hours of the EU-15. This would have a significant impact on world carbon emissions. Furthermore, when the world economy recovers, there are a number of middle-income countries that will approach high-income status in the not-too-distant future (South Korea and Taiwan are already there). Whether they choose the American or the European model will have an even bigger impact on global climate change.

The major media in both Europe and the United States have played an important role, for decades, in helping politicians capitalise on economic mythology to push policy in economic and socially destructive directions on both sides of the Atlantic. It remains to be seen how much the Great Recession will influence the thinking and reporting of these influential institutions.

© Guardian News and Media Limited 2009

Mark Weisbrot is co-director of the Centre for Economic and Policy Research, in Washington, DC