Impact of Disinformation, GOP promotes bad government, Women and HCR, Credit card gouging, and Take Action

Quick Hits for November 12, 2009

* The Impact of Disinformation: Today, a Republican told me that it was Democrat Nancy Pelosi's fault that President Bush did not put tighter regulations on the health care industry. He insisted that President Bush wanted more and tighter regulations on the industry. My initial thought was "how did Nancy Pelosi do that when President Bush had GOP control of the house for his first six years?" My second thought was, "when did the GOP become the party of more regulations and the DNC become the party of deregulation?" Why does disinformation work? Because people don't take time to think about it, if they did, it would make little to no sense much of the time.

* Someone told me how bad government is and cited the large deficits among other things. I stopped and thought about it drawing this conclusion: The GOP constantly tells us that government doesn't work, then when they get in power, they seem to break it, and thus, prove their point that government doesn't work. If the GOP made government work well, wouldn't that undermine their argument that government doesn't work?

* Aren't the GOP the very same people who wanted to privatize and eliminate Social Security and Medicare in the last 30 years? Why would anyone think that they want health care reform that looks anything like a Democrat version? Maybe Democrats should stop trying to get bipartisanship and start trying to get things done.

* While the Stupak Amendment passed the House, and I still hold the position that if funding abortion is the only roadblock to a good public option health care plan then pass the plan, I have to wonder why sexism is so alive in today's Congress. The legislation appears to have no coverage for basic OBGYN care for things like pelvic exams, birth control, STDs, and domestic violence screening. Abortions generally aren't covered under many health care plans, but these basic services are and MUST be included in a public option. Strangely enough, congressional legislation will pay for Viagra, but not these basic services? My wife deserves to be treated equally, and she deserves to have basic services covered. So does my mom, my sisters, and any future daughters I might have. Tell Harry Reid to change that language and support women's rights.

* Credit card companies are gouging consumers with rate increases just prior to the effective date of legislation that would no longer allow such practices to lock in those higher rates legally before such hikes would become illegal. In other words, it is time to kill your card balances, call your credit card companies, and don't spend on them until they are willing to lower your rate back to a reasonable level. I have heard of people having their rates raised from 8% to over 20% effective in January, just one month before the legislation goes into effect. If your credit rating was good enough for 8% on your cards, there is not a reason to raise it to 20% or more while someone has made all of their payments on time for more than double the minimum amounts. Tighten the belts until they restructure these rates, they are beyond unreasonable and don't appear to be based on credit ratings as much as a desire to make more money for extending credit to those who didn't deserve it.

Take Action:

* Work to put a strong Public Option on the ballot in 50 states if Congress won't pass it: http://act.ly/Rqg

* Respond to Senator Reid's call for input, support a strong public option: http://www.harryreid.com/content/mobile

Or "Text A" to 42779 to support affordable health care for people with pre-existing conditions.

"Text B" to 42779 to support prohibiting insurance companies from dropping people when they get sick.

"Text C" to 42779 to support creating a strong public option to create competition to lower prices.