Category: What’s Up!

Ted Cruz, the freshman Senator from Texas, has become the Republican Tea Party’s most outspoken critic of the Affordable Health Care Act (“Obamacare”) and any other program or initiative that have been proposed.  In fact, Cruz was at the for-front in his party’s effort to defeat Chuck Hagel’s nomination as Secretary of Defense. 

Cruz sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and during the final Hagel confirmation meeting, he made an hodgepodge of despicable and intimidating comments about Hagel saying that he had serious doubts about the source of payments that Mr. Hagel had accepted for speaking engagements.  Cruz declared, “It is at a minimum relevant to know if that $200,000 that he deposited in his bank account came directly from Saudi Arabia, came directly from North Korea.”

Senator Bill Nelson and other Democrats countered by saying that Republicans have unfairly questioned the integrity of both Mr. Hagel, a two-time Purple Heart recipient, and has undermined the work of the normally bipartisan committee itself.  “Senator Cruz has gone over the line,” Mr. Nelson said. “He basically has impugned the patriotism of the nominee.”  Senator John McCain also commented on Cruz’s attacks on Mr. Hagel, saying that, “no one on this committee should at any time impugn his character or his integrity.”  It is interesting to note that Chuck Hagel is a Republican.

Cruz was born in Canada and migrated to Texas with his parents.  He was the first Hispanic Solicitor General of Texas, the youngest Solicitor General in the United States, and the Solicitor General with the longest tenure in Texas history.  He has an impressive academic résumé: an undergraduate degree from Princeton, followed by law school at Harvard.  Many of his school colleagues remember him for his exceptional smartness but also remember him as arrogant, disagreeable and self-serving.  Since elected to the Senate, Cruz has undoubtedly confirmed what his school colleagues remembered.

 Republican David Brooks recently said during an interview on PBS, “And Ted Cruz, the senator from Canada through Texas, is basically not a legislator in the normal sense, doesn’t have an idea that he’s going to Congress to create coalitions, make alliances, and he is going to pass a lot of legislation. He’s going in more as a media protest person.  And a lot of the House Republicans are in the same mode. They’re not normal members of Congress. They’re not legislators. They want to stop things. And so they’re just being — they just want to obstruct. And the second thing they’re doing, which is alarming a lot of Republicans, is they’re running against their own party. Ted Cruz is running against Republicans in the Senate. The House Republican Tea Party types are running against the Republican establishment. That’s how they’re raising money. That’s where they’re spending their money on ads.  And so they’re having a very obstructive role which is going on this week, and I think it’s going to make John Boehner’s life even more difficult.”

 Some of Cruz’s comments could very well be construed as “racist” or at the very least, “ignorant.”  For example, he recently made two extremely asinine remarkss: that the Senate needs 100 members just like the late Senator. Jesse Helms, and that a government shutdown at the end of this month would be no big deal.

Many of us remember Helm’s as a bigoted segregationist and if that’s Cruz’s model of leadership, so be it.  But his willingness to let the federal government shut-down whether one day or several weeks is just plain stupid even though he is supported by the Club for Growth, the Heritage Foundation and the Family Research Council, three radical right-wing organizations.  These constituencies have apparently convinced Cruz, his congressional allies and right-wing media that there is just one last chance to stop Obamacare before the new health care law’s increased benefits commence on January 1, 2014.  Cruz and his crew believe their willingness to let that happen gives them leverage that forces President Obama to defund or delay Obamacare. 

The last time militant Republicans allowed the government to shut down was 1995. Then, they were trying to impose their plan to balance the federal budget on President Clinton who was at the weakest point of his presidency. Conventional wisdom and most of the evidence say the Republicans’ boldness did nothing but anger voters and that the shutdown of ’95 was the beginning of  President Clinton’s political rebound.  Cruz does not accept that conventional wisdom, calling it “cocktail chatter.” He believes Republicans will gain by sticking to their guns.  Keep in mind that Cruz has never been a legislator.

There is no chance President Obama or the Democrats who have a majority in the Senate will agree to defund the Affordable Care Act. Sensible Republicans know this is true, and they also know they will get the blame if an extended government shutdown rattles the financial markets and harms the economy.  Cruz shows nothing but contempt for what he calls “scared Republicans.” In a recent radio interview, he said, “We need 41 Republicans in the Senate or 218 Republicans in the House to stand together, to join me.”  Although that is not enough support to force their will on the President, it is enough to create the kind of disorder our fragile economy cannot afford.

Since passage of the Affordable Health Care Act and it being subsequently upheld as constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, Ted Cruz has been at the forefront of lies, fabrications and distortions about Obamacare.  Here are a few of Cruz’s favorites lies and myths, none of which are true:

“Obamacare-caused paperwork will annually absorb 190 million hours or more–and Mount Rushmore could be built 1,547 times over with the paperwork.”

“According to a recent Congressional Budget Office report, under Obamacare, 7 million people will lose their employer-sponsored insurance.”

“Expanding Medicaid will worsen health care options for the most vulnerable among us in Texas.”

“Did you know ObamaCare will cost nearly twice as much as initially expected — $1.8 TRILLION?”

Senator Cruz has a passion for obstructing.  He belonged to the minority of 22 senators who voted against the Violence Against Women Act that passed with 78 votes.  He also voted against suspending the debt ceiling for three months and against aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy.   Cruz has already indicated his disagreement with the immigration reform proposal by a bipartisan panel of senators and indicated a hostility for meaningful gun control legislation.  The leader of the right-wing component of the Republic Party, Rush Limbaugh, has stated that, “the reason Republicans have been sent to congress is to obstruct.”

In an article published by the Washington Post on September 19, 2013, investigative columnist, E. J. Dionne, wrote: 

“What’s fascinating, and this speaks to the perceived power of the Tea Party in primaries, is that it’s taking only a small minority of House Republicans to push toward Armageddon. The Washington Post’s Lori Montgomery and Paul Kane estimated that roughly 40 conservatives revolted against their leadership’s efforts to keep the government open past Sept. 30. That’s 40 in a 435-member House of Representatives. What’s become of us when less than 10 percent of one chamber of Congress can unleash chaos? What does this say about the House Republican leadership gap?

“But it’s also important to understand why the Republican right is so fixated on killing or delaying Obamacare before it goes into effect. Their central worry is not that it will fail, but that it will succeed.”

I agree with E. J. Dionne; Tea Party obstructionist as well as many Republicans are not really concerned that Obamacare doesn’t work, they are terrified that it does work and will create such a positive legacy for President Obama and the Democrats that it will be a very long time before a Republican is elected to the White House. 

In addition to being at war with itself, the Republican Party as a whole is in serious trouble and has rapidly become known as a Party that is more interested in protecting their re-election prospects rather than dealing in a bi-partisan way with the many problems facing our country.  Because of his vitriol, lack of willingness to find common ground on anything, and his hate and disrespect for our President and common sense American values, Ted Cruz and his cohorts will continue to bring the Republican Party nothing but grief and misery and will guarantee that in 2014, Nancy Pelosi will again become Speaker of the House, but that’s just my take.

 

The great thing about the history of Black America and the methods African American leadership has used to seek full equality and acceptance in this country is that there have been many roads to that goal.  Yes, the great social, political, legal and even military movements that have been conducted to free African Americans from slavery and achieve full citizenship were crucial.  And the great black leadership of dynamic personalities like Martin Luther King and George Washington Carver have made things possible that would never have been possible otherwise.

But not all of the gains in society have been achieved through tears and anger.  In fact, some great black leadership can be found in a place one never would think to look.  It can be found in the stand up comedy night clubs and on forward thinking television shows as black comedians helped everybody, black and white, laugh together at the differences in the races rather than cry separately.

Some of the most revered figures in comedy in the last thirty years were from the African American community.  There are many notable names that spring immediately to mind that have used the “podium” of a comedy microphone and stage to talk about issues of race, color, discrimination and race relations in a way that all can appreciate their thoughts and achieve a common understanding.  The names of Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy and many more stand out as both very funny entertainers and people who have represented the African American community with pride and intelligence that all can admire.

Many an African American child took hope from the idea of rising up out of poverty and difficulty to reach greatness because they saw these black entertainers do it.  Just by using their success to show the youth of black America that they too can be successful and that with hard work, intelligence, and the willingness to try they too can be somebody to their families and to their community.  This is truly the role of a great role model and these men have given much hope to youth to make something of themselves and make a difference.

Sometimes it was hard for these entertainers to achieve equality.  When Sammy Davis Junior first was recruited to make his valuable contribution to Frank Sinatra’s team, many in that society did not think it was appropriate that a black man could perform with equality with his white contemporaries.  We can be grateful too for the openness of others in the entertainment community that they would not stand to see racism keep talent such as Sammy’s down.  It was Sinatra himself that made sure that Sammy Davis could perform with the “Rat Pack” and in doing so, another door of racism was blown down in this country.

Stories like this are frequent.  The Hollywood establishment always has been forward thinking in presenting entertainers based on their talent and not on the color of their skin or other artificial divisions.  It has been television as well that has broken barriers and open the discussion of race and color for all of us to engage.  By making it “OK” to talk about race relations, it also makes it OK to see those relations healed and clear the way for reconciliation and healing. 

Many times when a black comedian is making his crowd laugh, he might say “the important thing is we talk about these things and laugh about them together”.  And that is the important thing.  We can be grateful we have had such outstanding leadership in entertainment to bring black and white together in a way that eliminates hatred and hostility.  Because it is hard to hate your brother when you are busy laughing together with him. 

In Part I of this article, a few of the major myths and fabrications about Obamacare were debunked.  In addition to exposing additional lies, myths and fabrications about Obamacare, I will provide some of the major benefits of this historic legislation.

Tea Party Republican Louie Gohmert from Texas told a big lie on ABC’s “This Week” when he said a “poor guy out there making $14,000″ is “going to pay extra income tax if he cannot afford to pay the several thousand dollars for an Obamacare policy.”  In fact, that “poor guy” will be eligible for Medicaid coverage or heavily subsidized private insurance, depending on where he lives, without fear of being penalized if he cannot afford insurance. Under the new law, an individual earning $14,000, which is currently 122 percent of the federal poverty level, would be eligible to receive:

• Medicaid if he lives in a state that expands Medicaid to include coverage for individuals and families earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. A provision of the Affordable Care Act funds the Medicaid expansion, at the state’s discretion.
• A significant federal subsidy to help pay for private insurance, if he doesn’t live in a state that expands Medicaid. But he doesn’t have to buy insurance, because he is also eligible for a “hardship exemption” that would exempt him from any tax penalties.

It is unfortunate that many Americans especially the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party, apparently obtain most of their “news” from Fox, Limbaugh, Beck, O’Reilly or Hannity and have been so misinformed about ObamaCare that they haven’t bothered to consider possible benefits to them.  In 2009, a study by the University of Maryland found that Fox News viewers were more likely to believe false information about politics compared to other news organizations.  This study judged how likely consumers of various news outlets and publications were to believe misinformation about a wide range of political issues.  Overall, 90% of respondents said they felt they had heard false information being given to them during the 2010 election campaign. However, while consumers of just about every news outlet believed some information that was false, the study found that Fox News viewers, regardless of political information, were “significantly more likely” to believe the lies, fabrications and distortions from Fox News. 

What Congressional Republicans, Fox News and others fail to report are the benefits and positive effects of ObamaCare.  Up to now, the Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats have done a poor job in educating consumers on the benefits of ObamaCare.  For example, the new health care law actually builds on what works in our  health care system.  It fixes what’s broken by making improvements in several key areas.  It protects us from the worst insurance company abuses, makes health care more affordable, and provides better access to care.

Here are some of the major benefits of ObamaCare:

Ending Insurance Company Abuses:  Thanks to ObamaCare, insurers can no longer put a lifetime cap on how much care they will pay for if you get sick or cancel your coverage when you make a mistake on your paperwork.  Starting in 2014, health insurers will be prohibited from charging you more because you are a woman.

More Affordable Care:  Today, according to the new 80/20 rule, insurance companies must spend at least 80 cents of your premium dollar on your health care or improvements to care.  And insurance companies must publicly justify their actions if they want to raise premiums by 10 percent or more, and States have more power to block them.

Coverage for Young Adults:  Under ObamaCare, young adults under age 26 can stay on their parent’s health insurance plan until age 26 – a change that has already allowed 3.1 million young adults to get health coverage and given their families peace of mind.

Coverage for Pre-Existing Conditions:  The pre-existing conditions insurance plan in every state offers an option to people who have been lockout out of the insurance market because of a pre-existing condition like cancer or heart disease.  Under the new law, insurers can no longer deny coverage to children under age 19 because of a pre-existing condition like asthma and diabetes.  Starting in 2014, health insurers will be prohibited from discriminating against anyone due to pre-existing conditions.

Preventive Benefits:  All new health plans must now cover preventive services ranging from mammograms to FDA-approved birth control to vaccinations for your child, without making you pay a co-pay or deductible.

Better Coordinated Care:  Many doctors, hospitals and other providers are taking advantage of new options to help them work better as teams to provide us the highest quality care possible.  They are working to get us the care we need at the time we need it.

Fighting Fraud:  ObamaCare builds on the efforts to combat fraud and abuse.  These efforts are saving billions of dollars in money that was being stolen from people with Medicare.  Thanks to these efforts and other reforms, the Medicare Trust fund has been extended. 

Based on the myriad of facts about the benefits of ObamaCare, why are Republicans so terrified of its successful implementation?  Could it be that they truly do not want 31 million Americans to enjoy the same quality of health care that they have?  I don’t believe ObamaCare has anything to do with their health care attacks, but rather, an orchestrated and comprehensive assault to de-legitimize this presidency.   We all recall that as a result of that unprecedented election in 2008, the Republican Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, announced publicly that the Republican Party’s top priority was to deny President Obama a second term. McConnell’s plan was immediately placed into operation and the “destroy President Obama” scheme was preceding full-steam ahead.  In July 2009, Tea Party Senator Jim DeMint, said that, “If we’re able to stop Obama on [health care reform], it will be his Waterloo. It will break him and we will show that we can, along with the American people, begin to push those freedom solutions that work in every area of our society.” Fortunately the Democratic Party was able to pass health care reform despite Republican obstructionism.

On May 17, 2012, we learned that the New York Times obtained a leaked copy of a proposal given to conservative billionaire Joe Ricketts for an ad campaign aimed at tarring President Obama with the most outrageous things said by his former Pastor, Jeremiah Wright.  This ad campaign was drawn up by Fred Davis who became famous for his viral campaign commercials like Demon Sheep. It also came with an explosive memo in which Davis slams McCain for not using this material in 2008, and outlines strategies for using it without being labeled a racist. This plan would have used an “extremely literate conservative African-American” as a spokesman to argue that Obama is not the “metrosexual, Black Abe Lincoln” he allegedly made himself out to be in 2008.  In addition to buying television advertising, the campaign called for a plan to “jolt” the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, at summer’s end with newspaper and outdoor ads and aerial banners over the convention site one afternoon.  In spite of these efforts, President Obama won reelection in a landslide victory.

If you are an opponent of ObamaCare, don’t accept the myths and distortions by the right-wing component of the Republican Party, or even supportive comments by people on the left, check it out for yourself like I did.  Do your own research and make your own evaluation of what the health care law provides and what it doesn’t. 

ObamaCare is the “law of the Land” and efforts to repeal it will continue to fail.  Here is a link to more detailed factual information about ObamaCare   http://www.obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-facts.php.