Posts Tagged ‘healthcare’

Religious Matters

Saturday, April 23rd, 2011

Religious Matters
What Moral Matters Matter to America
by
Paul Johnson

The latest US budget designed and approved by almost every single Republican in the House of Representatives takes food right out of the mouths of the starving and gives it to the millionaires and billionaires.

This action has horrified America enough that we are beginning to realize that we are voting for the party that is as opposite our religious and moral values as possible.

How could we have voted for this immoral party? How could we have been made into such suckers that we have voted against all that we know to be right and voted for those intent on giving our country away to the greedy and the rich?

If we don’t stop and figure out how we got here, we’ll never be able to avoid it in the future.

What went so wrong that we got the party of the greedy running our government?

I can’t speak for everyone who has accidentally voted for the party of the greedy, but I can speak for those I know and I can be pretty sure that this is the same mistake made by almost all of those voting for the Republicans.

Wedge Issues

The easiest way to get people to vote against their own best interests and against the best interests of the country is to get them to vote primarily on wedge issues. A wedge issue is an issue that can be used to drive as a wedge between political parties. The Republicans can’t run on providing for the poor, because it would be a a lie, so they need to find something that will get people riled up enough to go and vote for a lousy candidate if he would just address the wedge issue.

The Republican voter is typically a single issue voter. This means that they are the most susceptible to being used as tools in wedge issues.

Effective Marketing

The Republican party has become experts at marketing destructive policies to the American people. Why else would you have a Tea Party out there chanting for more rights and lower taxes on the multinational corporations and billionaires? The Tea Party was created with money from the billionaires and is sponsored by billionaire dollars and marketed with billionaire money all for the purpose of getting Tea Party candidates elected who vote against the interests of Americans and all for the corporations.

Few people even realize that the original Tea Party was a revolution against multinational corporate power and now they’re out there chanting for more power and more money for the multinational corporations. You can’t tell me that’s not pretty darned impressive marketing.

Lies and Deceipt

The percentage of people who are foolish enough to be Tea Baggers is low enough that the Republican party needs more. Hence, the need to lie about what they are and what they plan to do for the billionaires.

This is not a problem limited to the Republican party. There are a few Democrats who run on Progressive principles and then vote straight ticket with the Republicans.

But, this isn’t really all about how bad the Republicans are. This essay is about how some unethical politicians and greedy billionaires can corrupt our political system. It’s not all about Republicans or Democrats. It happens to be the Republican party they have infected, but it could have just as well been the Democratic party. In fact, they’re spending billions of dollars right now, trying to corrupt that party as well.

Taking Back our Country

How on Earth are we ever going to fix this mess with so much money lines up against the American voters? How will we wrestle the media away from big money? How can we change the campaign finance laws when the Supreme Court is so obviously pro-billionaire?

This almost looks like a perfect storm. It may be too late for us to take back the country peacefully, but hopefully we will at least try before it’s too late.

The Real Issues

As I’ve pointed out, political parties don’t run on real moral issues, they run on wedge issues. This means that we voters are stuck without real issues upon which to vote.

What are the most important moral issue to you? Think about it before reading further. What is really important to you morally? Do these moral issue matter enough to affect your voting? In other words, do your morals affect your “real” life or are they just something to talk about at church?

For the vast majority of Americans, moral issues affect their daily lives. Most people try to keep morals in their lives.

Here is a short list of my moral issues. I have a much longer list but it’s not important what mine are, what matters is what your moral list looks like.

  1. Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, housing the homeless, curing the sick. You know, those things Jesus says need to be part of our lives.
  2. Turn the other cheek. This includes reducing the steel heel of oppressive laws in America and reducing the oppressive governments of other lands. This means no wars. Fix the system where the vast majority of those in our prisons are minorities and poor. You know, the things Jesus said we should keep in our lives.
  3. Discouraging greed. Wow! There’s no end to where this could go. It’s time to get the money changers out of our religions and out of our politics.

There are plenty more, but this is a good start for discussion. Do yourself a favor and come up with your own personal list of important moral issues.

Now ask yourself, how many of those issues on your list are things you actually vote on? How can there be such a great disconnect between what you think is moral and how you vote?

Now, here is a list of wedge issues that are important but are not anywhere near the top of my list and I bet they’re not at the top of yours either:

  1. Abortion. This is not a moral issue. Nowhere in the Bible does it say we need to vote on abortion. Abortions are horrible but if they’re at the top of your morals list, you might want to stop and take a second look at your morals.
  2. Hate the Gay. How many times does your religious book refer to defending the downtrodden compared to the number of times it says we need to disenfranchise gays? This is a big wedge issue but is also a big moral issue as well. Should we be taking rights away from gays? What would your common sense tell you?
  3. Religion in schools and in government. This wedge issue really as no place in a Christian’s political view. Christianity is opposed to the combination of politics and religion. So are our country’s founding documents. So, why would you vote based on this issue? Don’t get me wrong. There are some religions that think that politics and religions should be the same. But most Americans opposed to Muslim laws regarding this.

What are your most important wedge issues and is it wise to vote based on them while excluding the most important moral issues on your list?

Happy Easter!

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Posted in Politics, Religion | 3 Comments »

How is the Republican House doing so far?

Wednesday, February 9th, 2011

So what has the Republican House of Representatives done since they were elected last November?

If you voted for them you should be paying close attention. After the election is when your real work begins. You have to pay attention to what your representatives do so you can have half a clue if you want to re-elect them come next election.

So, what have they done for America? There are endless polls out there saying what is most important for the average American. The first thing on every poll is the economy. So, what have the Republicans brought us to address the economy?

Nothing! Zip, Nada!

In fact, they did the one thing that would have a tremendous negative impact on our economy, reversing the health care reform that almost every American, including all the Republicans, has been trying to do for over a half a century. Fix the health care system. They want to repeal it even though by impartial non-partisan analysis, is to save our economy hundreds of billions of dollars.

They have even taken the word, Labor, out of the labor commission.

Okay, so they haven’t done anything for the A-number-one-most-important thing. So how about other important things?

Have they fixed the Free Trade disaster sending all our jobs over seas? No, I guess not.

The second most important thing to most all Americans is unemployment. What have they done for the unemployed? You guessed it. NOTHING!

How about corruption in government? Nothing! In fact, they’re making it harder to expose the Republican corruption.

The next most important thing to most all Americans is the broken health care system. Have they done anything, anything at all to fix it? No. They have absolutely no ideas or plans for anything.

Okay, so they haven’t done anything at all that the average American needs done. But what have they done?

Well, they have done two things. They spent hundreds of millions of our tax dollars playing politics with the Health Care Reform bill.

And, their second most wonderful accomplishment — they have spit in the faces of all American women by marginalizing the crime of rape. They have spent our tax dollars and wasted precious time redefining Rape while failing to address anything that matters.

I have to admit, if I was a Republican voter, I’d feel pretty darned stupid by now. Hey Republicans, is it time to wake up yet? Is it time to come to your senses? It’s too late to take back your party. Your party is toast. It represents no one but the crazies and the billionaires.

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Posted in Politics | 2 Comments »

Supply & Demand and the Cost of Health Care

Sunday, January 30th, 2011

Supply & Demand and the Cost of Health Care
by
David Schlecht

Imagine for a moment that everyone in America was college educated and everyone was a doctor. How much would it cost to go to the doctor?

Since there would be more doctors than were needed, the supply & demand would make the value of doctor services almost worthless.

In every non-American developed country, doctors make a reasonably good living but are not paid like gods. In America, supply & demand has been interfered with and there are fewer doctors than the demand. Therefore, doctors in America are prohibitively expensive.

Now, let’s imagine for a moment that America becomes a first-world country again and provided free education, all the way up to doctorates. Everyone who wanted to be a doctor and had the ability (not just the money) could be a doctor. What would happen to the cost of our medical care? That’s right, it would go way down.

So, why do you suppose America has this problem that the rest of the developed world doesn’t? What has been messing with our supply & demand?

There are two things that distort the supply & demand for medical care in America: 1) The American Medical Association and 2) America’s failure to provide free education to the gifted, not just the wealthy.

1) The American Medical Association actively limits the number of new doctors entering the field. This sort of interference with our free markets should be outlawed and people caught manipulating our markets for profit should go to jail. People are dying because our medical system is so broken and some people are making money off this broken system. Send them to jail. Murder is murder even if you don’t see the faces of the victims and their families.

2) Americans are saving a few dollars in their taxes by not providing better education for everyone but are then paying thousands of dollars more in medical expenses. Americans are smarter than that. Yet, we still hear the Tea Baggers and the Republicans say how we need to lower our taxes even further. Not too bright, now, huh?

The solution should now be quite obvious. We should join the rest of the developed world in the 21st century and extend free education through doctorate degrees. We should even include a small stipend to help students to pay their expenses while going to college. And, secondly, we should send to prison those people caught interfering with our supply of doctors.

Remember, when it comes to markets, the system of supply & demand explains a lot.

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Posted in Finance, Politics | 5 Comments »

State of the Union Address

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

State of the Union Address
by
David Schlecht

So what were your thoughts on President Obama’s State of the Union Address tonight? Here are a few of my thoughts:

  • High Speed Rail! It’s about time. This is a good goal. Of course those against America will oppose it.
  • Investing in innovations like solar is a good step if you can make sure you’re stimulating OUR economy.
  • Electric cars. Yeah!
  • No messing with Social Security
  • Make the rich pay their fair share
  • No comment on bringing our jobs home. Just chatter about how if we’re better educated we’ll be better able to compete (with dollar a day Chinese slave labor?)
  • No comment about busting up the too-big-to-fail banks or cleaning up our media or enforcing anti-trust regulations.

All in all, it was a motivating speech that was a little short on specifics, but full of lots of grand ideas.

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Posted in Politics | 16 Comments »

Information Pollution

Thursday, December 16th, 2010

Information Pollution
by
David Schlecht

“An informed citizenry is the only true repository of the public will.” Thomas Jefferson

We have multiple posts regarding the emergency caused by the Republicans on the Supreme Court in their attempt to rewrite the constitution (activists judges, they’re called) in the Citizens United v. FEC case. They have made it so that businesses, international corporations, and foreign entities like al Qaeda and the Taliban can spend unlimited money to pollute our elections. The last election was just an example. It was by far the most expensive mid term election in our history and hundreds of millions of dollars was spent on  false propaganda (lies) by corporations around the world and we have no idea who.

All this money slanted the election as money always does.

The University of Maryland has a project that is researching the disinformation in this past election and it is exactly as one would expect. The voters were tragically misinformed. From their research, the following disgusting ignorances were reported.

1. Perceptions of Misleading and False Information – An overwhelming majority of voters said that they encountered misleading or false information in the last election, with a majority saying that this occurred frequently and occurred more frequently than usual.

2. Evidence of Misinformation Among Voters – The poll found strong evidence that voters were substantially misinformed on many of the issues prominent in the election campaign, including the stimulus legislation, the healthcare reform law, TARP, the state of the economy, climate change, campaign contributions by the US Chamber of
Commerce and President Obama’s birthplace. In particular, voters had perceptions about the expert opinion of economists and other scientists that were quite different from actual expert opinion.

3. Variations in Misinformation By Voting Behavior – There were significant differences between those who voted Democratic and Republican in the level of misinformation on various issues that were prominent in the campaign and that respondents said were important in shaping their votes.

4. Variations in Misinformation by Exposure to News Sources Consumers of all sources of media evidenced substantial misinformation, suggesting that false or misleading information is widespread in the general information environment, just as voters say they perceive it to be. In most cases increasing exposure to news sources decreased misinformation; however, for some news sources on some issues, higher levels of exposure increased misinformation.

There is more findings and plenty of detail in the actual document so don’t take my word for it; go out there and find out for yourself.

We Americans need to respect the integrity of our information and start demanding that corporations and so called “think tanks” and so called Fox “news”  quit lying to us. We can’t expect our Democracy to survive if we voters don’t know our hats from a hole in the ground.

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Posted in Politics | 5 Comments »

Things the GOP Hates – Part 1

Sunday, October 3rd, 2010

Things the GOP Hates – Part 1
by
Captain Jack

I’m quite surprised by the Republican Party for all the things they oppose. One would think that they oppose anything the Democrats want, even if such opposition hurts America. Then, again, maybe there really is reason to oppose these things Democrats are trying to pass thinking it’s for the benefit of America. Let’s take a look at what the GOP hates.

The list of things the GOP opposes is huge and grows every day so deciding where to start leaves countless possibilities. So, I’ll start with things that the GOP has expressed the most opposition to, namely fixing our broken health care system.

The GOP has promised repeatedly that if they get back into power they’ll repeal the health care reform bill. They’ve pledged to, “Repeal the Costly Health Care Takeover of 2010.”

It sickens me to see a major political party in America so steeped in lies. I would have said, “what moron would ever believe that the tax bill is taking over the health care” but seeing all the people who sadly believed the lies about the death panels and believe that Obama’s coming for their guns, I sadly realize that a large number of Americans are successfully deceived by these lies over and over again.

If you are one of the many Republicans who visit this site, please stop and drop me a comment and let me what’s going on inside your head when it comes to this stuff.

Why does anyone believe the lies when it’s proven that the party is lying over and over? Is it easily forgotten each time or does your news media neglect to correct the lies?

America has been trying for many decades to fix our broken health care system. We’ve known it’s broken since the early 1900s. Republican administrations and Democratic administrations have tried repeatedly to fix this mess only to be beaten down by the medical and health care industries.  Now, after all these failed attempts, America has succeeded in a first step at fixing the problem and the same health care and medical industries have convinced many of us how it’s not in our best interests to see this fixed.

So, Republicans, please enlighten me. Why are you so opposed to America fixing our broken health care system? We’re the last industrialized nation to fix the death by greed problems. So, what, exactly, are you so opposed to? The lie of death panels has been cleared up, the lie of it costing more than it saves over the next few years has been debunked. Exactly what is remaining that makes the GOP want to repeal this? Is the problem really just the fact that the Democrats were successful in helping America and the GOP don’t want it to stick?

Is it possible that the Republican voters really don’t want America to fix our broken health care system? I just refuse to believe that.

Now that the health care bill is in effect, how much have your taxes gone up? None? In fact isn’t Obama trying to get the middle class tax cuts to continue? How many death panels have you seen? How much is your health care rationed? None?

Well, then, really, what is the GOP opposed to when it comes to fixing our health care system?

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Health Care for America Now

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

Health Care for America Now
by
Captain Jack

I got this in my inbox today. It’s so sad to see the extent of the lies coming out of the right and the millionaires and billionaires. They’re making more and more money while the rest of us do with less and less and they lie to keep it coming. We are all being lied to and many of us are believing the swill. Check out this email and help stop the lies about national health insurance reform.

As you know, the insurance companies spent over $700 million to try and kill health care.  Now, the insurers and their allies are spending millions on ads filled with lies to try and buy a Republican anti-health care majority hell-bent on repealing the new law. These ads are designed to trick and scare voters especially seniors.

Just last week, the conservative 60 Plus Association (an astro turf, insurance industry front-group claiming to represent seniors) launched its latest round of misleading ads that falsely attack the Members of Congress who stood on our side against the insurance companies.

Fight back now and call voters across the country and tell them the truth about the health care law.

These next few weeks are crucial in the fight to protect consumer and end the insurance companies’ stranglehold on our health care. It was your work, your one-on-one conversations, your phone calls, and your e-mails that defeated the insurance lobbyists. We beat the insurance industry before and we will do it again.

Click here to sign up and call seniors across the country and tell them the truth about the health care law.

The insurance companies and their mouthpieces will continue to take every opportunity to prevent the new law from fulfilling its promise. Their tactics are getting more brazen by the day. Several insurance companies are refusing to issue child-only policies because the new law prohibits their practice of denying coverage to children with “pre-existing conditions.” They continue to blame these indefensible actions on the new law.

Will you fight the insurance industry as they attack health care and its supporters? Sign up to phonebank today.

We will continue to stand up to the insurance industry and be the voice of truth in their sea of lies. This movement was built on your hard work and dedication. We won’t let this country go backwards.

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Dump Harry Reid?

Friday, July 16th, 2010

Dump Harry Reid?
by
David Schlecht

Shall Nevada dump Harry Reid? If you are certain we should dump him but can’t quite put your finger on the reason why, watch out, you just might be getting caught up in the anti-Reid advertising. If you actually have some reasons, please post a comment with your reasons.

Anyone making a decision as important as selecting the representatives for our government will certainly want to evaluate the pros and cons of Reid’s accomplishments before making a decision for or against. So, here is my quick list of the pros and cons. Please feel free to add any of your own that might not be listed here.

Pros:

  1. He’s the majority Senate leader, ensuring that Nevada has a voice in our government, and a big voice it is being the majority leader. Dumping Harry Reid will mean Nevada will not have another Senate majority leader for many decades.
  2. Cutting taxes for Nevada’s working families. Well, I’m not real sure if I want to put this as a pro or a con. American’s taxes are so low right now (the lowest they’ve been in over 50 years) that the country is going broke. Cutting taxes is one of the primary reasons we’re in the financial mess we’re in. Still, he has tried to get more money into the hands of the average American and that’s the only fix for this mess.
  3. Helping to keep Nevadans in their homes
  4. Creating jobs by investing in Nevada’s clean energy industry
  5. Killing the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump. For me, this is a big BIG deal!
  6. Passing landmark health insurance reform legislation to help cover more than 600,000 uninsured Nevadans. Remember a year ago? Two years ago? 10 years ago? America has been trying to pass comprehensive health care reform for many decades and only with Harry Reid has it been passed. Could it have been better? Absolutely! But, it’s a wonderful start.

Cons:

  1. He allowed more tax breaks for the billionaires and multi-national corporations as part of the stimulus. That only makes things worse, Harry.
  2. The Republican party has been as obstructionist as ever before in this country’s history. They have tried to prevent anything good from coming through. Harry has been playing nice with them and letting them block legislation after legislation and appointment after appointment. Harry, stand up to the anti-American tactics from the Republicans and call them what they are. Force a filibuster if they threaten one.
  3. Health care reform could have been so much better if Harry had stood up to the obstructionists.
  4. Harry let the Republicans strip the Buy-American provision of the stimulus which required the stimulus money go to American businesses. Over half of the stimulus went to stimulate China’s economy and Harry let the Republicans do it.

The Lies:
Following are some of the lies that we’re beginning to see coming out of the Republican lie machine.

  1. The stimulus didn’t work. This is just so obvious a lie that even the Republicans don’t believe it. We were losing millions of jobs before we passed the stimulus and now we’re starting to get our jobs back and the unemployment rate is going down. It can’t be more obvious, even to the people trying to peddle this lie.
  2. The second lie is that Harry Reid is responsible for Nevada not getting more stimulus money. This lie is usually uttered in the same breath that lies that the stimulus didn’t work. However, Harry Reid has nothing to do with the stimulus money getting to Nevada. That is something that the governor does and if you remember, our governor, Gibbons, at first refused the stimulus money and later lost out because he fell asleep and failed to request any.

So, tell me, what are your thoughts?

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Posted in Politics | 8 Comments »

Medical Costs

Friday, May 21st, 2010

Medical Costs
by
Captain Jack

In order to fix what we think is broken, we should try to understand how we got in this mess. The problem with our out-of-control medical costs exemplifies this handily. Knowing how we got in this mess will usually help us figure out how to get out of it and at the very least can help us avoid stepping in the same hole again once it’s fixed.

If you only have one power company, they can charge whatever they want for electricity and you can either pay through the nose or freeze to death. This is an example of supply and demand. There is a large demand and only a single supplier. That is why most of our power providers are tightly regulated — to prevent this type of abuse.

Computers were expensive at the beginning. I remember when my first desktop computer cost me $1300 for a run-of-the-mill computer. Now you can buy a computer for $300. Why the difference? Supply and demand, obviously. Now there are numerous companies trying to sell you a computer.

So let’s think back about 30 years. Medical care was expensive. You paid almost $30 for a doctor visit. No, not for the co-pay, not for the deductible. That was the cost of the visit. Sure, that was expensive then, but nothing like what we’re paying today.

What has changed since then? What has caused the prices to sky rocket?

Do you think that it might possibly have something to do with supply and demand? You’re right on the money.

We have a higher demand for medical care now than we did back then. There were more doctors available per patient than we have now. Considerably more. And, why is that? The reason is two fold.

1. The AMA restricts how many doctors get through a medical degree.  They control the supply. The AMA should be terminated. It is not benefiting society, but causing the deaths of many Americans due to unavailable affordable health care.

2. The second reason is along the same line. What else changed 30 years ago? What changed that affects how many people graduate from medical school? You’re probably way ahead of me on this one. Yes, it’s because the cost of education has gone through the roof. 30 years ago many colleges were free or close to free. Today, only the elite can afford to send their kids to medical school.

If we all paid $10 per year to provide free medical education to anyone interested and capable of graduating, we would save hundreds of dollars a year in medical costs. But, no, we don’t want to pay an extra dime on our taxes and see what this stingy attitude has done to our once great nation?

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Congratulations America! Way to Go!

Monday, April 26th, 2010

Congratulations America! Way to Go!
by
Captain Jack

Congratulations America! You have done something America has been trying to do for the past 70 years. We’ve passed Health Insurance Reform. America, YOU ROCK!

For the past 70 years, while the rest of the world has created health care systems for all their people, Republican have fought with all their might against America’s efforts at reforming our broken system. And you finally did it!

This is such an important milestone that it’s hard to even put it in perspective. One day, many decades ago, America decided we would not allow our poor and old to die on street corners. Against the cries of Socialism from the Republicans, we became a better country, a country following the course defined in our constitution and America’s forefathers. Today, we passed health care reform and it is just as momentous and has been against as much pressures and lies from the Right Wing Nutsville.

But, America, this is just the start. If we just sit back and feel good about what we did, and nothing more, then you know the followers of the hate and fear party will be out in force, trying to undo every good thing that makes this country great. We can’t let that happen.

Stay active. Feel GREAT about our wonderful first step but know that it’s just a single step in helping America recover from the damages wrought by our brothers on the Right. Stay active. Talk to your neighbors, write letters to the papers and magazine and to our representatives. Donate! And let’s set our sights on the next big success for America.

Congratulations America!

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Posted in Politics | 4 Comments »

Gibbons, the Child Governor

Monday, March 29th, 2010

Gibbons, the Child Governor
by
David Schlecht

Ah, Jim Gibbons. You make a tea bagger proud. Too bad that you disgrace the rest of the state of Nevada. I’ve seen five year olds act more mature and sensible than you.

Gibbons doesn’t think that we’re wasting enough of our bankrupt state’s money. He wants to cancel education and any investment in Nevada’s future but he certainly has some money to jump on the Republican Crazy Train and file yet another frivolous lawsuit against health insurance reform like one more lawsuit is going to make a difference. Just how stupid is it for Nevadans to pay our scarce Nevada tax dollars pursuing lawsuits that we will have to spend our federal tax dollars to defend. I know that this sounds awfully immature by anyone’s standards, but at a time like this, it has to make a tea bagger proud.

It’s really no surprise that the majority of Nevadans have been against Gibbons from the start, but this an obvious example of Nevadan tax payers getting what we deserve for not getting out there and voting. Now it’s costing every Nevadan cold hard cash because of this man-child.

Knock, knock — wake up Nevada!

Update:
You’ve just got to read the AG’s Response to Gibbons 3-26-10.

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Posted in Politics | 6 Comments »

Dean Heller Has No Brain

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

Dean Heller Has No Brain
by
Captain Jack

I wrote a letter to Nevada’s Dean Heller explaining the need to support Pelosi’s Health Care Legislation HR3962, oppose the Stupak amendment, and how important it is that safe abortions be part of America’s healthcare. To this, Heller responds.

To begin with, I want you to know that I share your concerns and deeply respect your advocacy on behalf of the unborn. You will be pleased to learn that I joined my colleagues in supporting the Sutpak-Pitts amendment.

Not only is the man a moron for voting for this woman killing legislation, but he obviously doesn’t even have a staff that can read. Or, then again, maybe that’s just his way of getting more votes.

Nevada! Wake up! The Republicans you’ve elected are destroying this country and dividing the people. Pretty soon, we’ll all be as smart as Heller.

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