Obama's War Episode One


Looks like another good series on VBS.

“In the summer of 2009, Ben Anderson travelled to the Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan to document the first military campaign ordered by President Obama. Anderson provides an inside view of what life is like for Echo Company’s U.S. Marines – including getting ambushed by the Taliban and hit by a roadside bomb.”

(I tried to embed the video… I don’t know if VBS sucks, or if it’s Blogger that doesn’t work, but somebody needs to handle that.)

Barack Obama Responds to My Open Letter

Remember my Open Letter to Barack Obama? Well, he wrote me back. Seriously!
And although it’s a totally canned email (doesn’t the “Dear Friend” give it away?), and I’m sure thousands of other people receive the same one, I thought I’d share.

Dear Friend:

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. I have heard from countless Americans struggling to afford health insurance and health professionals striving to provide care. I appreciate your perspective.

There is broad consensus among the American people on the need for affordable, high-quality health care. The rising cost of health care is the most pressing financial challenge for families and for our Nation, and controlling this cost is essential to bringing down the Federal deficits we inherited. We must end unfair insurance practices that leave millions of Americans without coverage, denying them access to care, and exposing them to extraordinary burdens. And we should ensure that all small business employees have access to affordable, high-quality health plans so that we can make our economy–and our small businesses- -more competitive. Now is the time to move forward, and I am working to get health insurance reform done this year.

Since I took office, we have done more to improve health care than we have in the previous decade. In February, I signed H.R. 2 to provide coverage for millions of children through the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and I signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to make key investments in computerized medical records and preventive services.

Still, more must be done to lower costs, expand coverage, and improve the quality of health care. My 2010 Budget makes a major down payment on health insurance reform by implementing efficiencies in government health care spending while improving the quality of care. To help fulfill the debt we owe to our service men and women, it includes the largest proposed single-year increase in veterans funding in 30 years. It expands health care coverage to an additional 500,000 veterans by 2013, implements technology that eases the transition from military care to veterans’ care, and enhances screening and treatment services for those suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury.

Looking forward, there are tough choices to be made, and I will seek to bring employers and workers, health care providers and patients, and Democrats and Republicans together to create a system that delivers better care and puts the Nation on a sustainable, long-term fiscal path. To learn more about my agenda or to share a personal story, please join me online at: www.healthreform.gov. For further information on health care and assistance that may be available to you, you may call 1-800-FEDINFO or visit: www.usa.gov.

I share the sense of urgency that millions of Americans have voiced. I watched as my ailing mother struggled with stacks of insurance forms in the last moments of her life. This is not who we are as a Nation; together, we will fix it.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

To be a part of our agenda for change, join us at www.WhiteHouse.gov

An Open Letter to President Barack Obama Before His Speech on Health Care Reform


Dear President Obama,

Please do not compromise the Public Option. I beg you, do not let this one go. You’ve played the bi-partisan game since you took office. With valiant effort you’ve moved your pieces, trying to win over the country to make both red and blue happy. With friends on both sides of the isle, I thought this is good; I had ‘the hope’ you could do it. However, Mr. President, you need to stop playing the game of Risk when others are clearly playing Battleship.

Do not compromise the Public Option.

I don’t ask you this because you’ve already given up single-payer… even though Universal health care is available in all industrialized countries except ours.

I don’t ask you because the Health Industry spends over 6.2 million lobbying against the Public Option, but won’t spend $28,000 to pay a patients medical bills (that is, until the state makes them).

I’m not asking you because the majority of Americans who filed for bankruptcies in 2007 were due to medical costs… and of those people, 80% had Health Insurance. It’s true.

I’m not asking because I’m worried that those crafting the reform *might* not really have our best interests at heart (ahem, Max Baucus (D-MT)… ahem, $2,880,631 in campaign contributions from the health care industry)

It’s not because a Public Option would help small businesses by saving them thousands of dollars.

I’m not asking because our grandparents love their Medicare, and maybe everyone should have the chance to opt-in to such a plan.

I don’t ask because even though we can spend near trillions of dollars on wars, somehow we can’t stomach spending that on caring for American lives.

I don’t ask because 76% of Americans are asking for a choice between a public and private option.

I’m not asking because we have a life expectancy below that of 41 other nations.

I don’t ask you because we’ve been waiting for Health Care Reform since 1969 (and some might say even longer).

And… I’m not asking because it would be a beautiful and noble way to honor the late Senator Ted Kennedy, by creating this plan in his name.

I’m asking you, Mr. President, for a simple, and yes, selfish reason.

I still owe my parents $12,000 dollars. And although they’ll never try and collect on this bill, my heart hurts when I think that my situation is not only common, but terribly benign when compared to thousands of Americans. My parents came to my rescue when I couldn’t afford my surgery, but others are not as lucky as me. This should not happen in America, the greatest country in the world.

If we are to truly believe in “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” we must ensure that all Americans- black, white, rich, poor, ivy league, or public school- ALL AMERICANS, can achieve their dreams without the fear of bankruptcy or long term suffering.

Allowing for a Public Option is the ONLY WAY.

Firemen defend our houses. Policemen protect our streets. Teachers educate our next generation. Doctors save our lives.
For all of these to not be public services… it will be a shame.

Mr. President, please do not compromise the Public Option.

Sincerely,
Abby Berendt