side note: Got this over at the Huffpost, but if you haven’t already been to Media Matter’s site, you should check it out. They are a wonderful watchdog of those morons on conservative radio and tv. As for Savage, I don’t know if any of you have heard his show before, but this guy is filled with anger. You can even tell who the Savage audience is when you’re driving home, and you accidently cut someone off and that person wants to get out of the car and fight you on the side of the road!

side note: We at NT couldn’t agree more with Maher. These fuckin Democrats in DC are not liberals. They aren’t even slightly to the left……these people need to be voted out b/c they do not represent values that most think Dems should defend.

side note: Shocker that big interest groups….who can spend the money lobbying DC politicians don’t want any change….they’re making huge money screwing over Americans with shitty healthcare. Why the fuck are we ranked #37 in the world? Wake up folks, we do not have the best heath care in the world…..unless you’re a politician or are rich.

By Robert Reich
Salon.com
Those opposing a public option — Big Pharma, the AMA, the insurers — are doing so out of economic self-interest

Without a public option, the other parties that comprise America’s non-system of healthcare — private insurers, doctors, hospitals, drug companies, and medical suppliers — have little or no incentive to supply high-quality care at a lower cost than they do now.

Which is precisely why the public option has become such a lightning rod. The American Medical Association is dead set against it, Big Pharma rejects it out of hand, and the biggest insurance companies won’t consider it. No other issue in the current healthcare debate is as fiercely opposed by the medical establishment and their lobbies now swarming over Capitol Hill. Of course they don’t want it. A public option would squeeze their profits and force them to undertake major reforms. That’s the whole point.

Critics say the public option is really a Trojan Horse for a government takeover of all of health insurance. But nothing could be further from the truth. It’s an option. No one has to choose it. Individuals and families will merely be invited to compare costs and outcomes. Presumably they will choose the public plan only if it offers them and their families the best deal — more and better healthcare for less.

Private insurers say a public option would have an unfair advantage in achieving this goal. Being the one public plan, it will have large economies of scale that will enable it to negotiate more favorable terms with pharmaceutical companies and other providers. But why, exactly, is this unfair? Isn’t the whole point of cost containment to provide the public with healthcare on more favorable terms? If the public plan negotiates better terms — thereby demonstrating that drug companies and other providers can meet them — private plans could seek similar deals. (more…)

side note: Come on people….everyone should be on board for this bill! Our states and local communities are going bankrupt, what else needs to happen? Even LA couldn’t afford a parade for the Lakers after they won the title……why are we wasting resources on a pothead watching Family Guy and eating Cheetos?

WBZtv.com

A controversial law in Massachusetts could go national if Congressman Barney Frank gets his way.

Frank has filed a bill that would eliminate federal penalties for personal possession of less than 100 grams of marijuana.

It would also make the penalty for using marijuana in public just $100.

“I think John Stuart Mill had it right in the 1850s,” said Congressman Frank, “when he argued that individuals should have the right to do what they want in private, so long as they don’t hurt anyone else. It’s a matter of personal liberty. Moreover, our courts are already stressed and our prisons are over-crowded. We don’t need to spend our scarce resources prosecuting people who are doing no harm to others.” (more…)