the *PUBLIC OPTION* is dead, *ONLY* if we allow it to be... do not give up!

[thotzRthingz]

So, you actually believe that a ROBUST PUBLIC OPTION (as part of health care reform) is dead? Isn't that what all the talking heads in the MEDIA are telling you? Do you realize that THEY, and also many members of CONGRESS are being bankrolled by the FOR-PROFIT GREED-MONGERS of the health care industry?

The promise of REAL REFORM, including a ROBUST PUBLIC OPTION, is only dead if *WE THE PEOPLE* accept that as a fact. Some in CONGRESS actually are still willing to do the work which AMERICANS sent them to CONGRESS to do... and they have called upon Senator Harry Reid to include, and PASS the "public option" through the "reconciliation" process. There are some 54 U.S. Senators who support such a move, if only they would be allowed the opportunity (thus far denied to them) to VOTE on such a measure. It only takes 51 Senators to PASS this measure, through the hoops & hurdles afforded to them, via reconciliation.

Even after being told the PUBLIC OPTION is dead, and after losing Senator Kennedy's seat to a republiCON... there is still HOPE ... but, *YOU* must do your part! Call, Email, and Write to your elected officials... DO IT TODAY (and tomorrow, and every "tomorrow" until they listen)! While you are at it:

SIGN THIS LETTER -- in support of the Polis/Pingree petition for REID to pass the PUBLIC OPTION via reconciliation (as of yesterday, there were FORTY THREE members of the HOUSE who have signed it) ... and CALL your congressional reps (in both the HOUSE and SENATE) telling them to also STAND UP for the AMERICAN PEOPLE! This is no time for APATHY... DO IT NOW!

I called Rep. Glenn Nye's (D-VA) office, asking for *HIM* to not only sign this letter, but to very PUBLICLY announce his support for a "robust public option" to be signed into law as a part of HCR. I made it very clear that during his 2008 run for office, I strongly supported him, and voted for him (to throw that rubber-stamping Thelma Drake, republiCON, to the curb)!

I'm asking that each of you CALL (once you have selected your state/zipcode and your Rep.'s page loads, clicking the CONTACT link will reveal their LOCAL office+phone number as well as that of their Washington D.C. office) your congressional rep ... and insist that they too do what I am asking Rep. Nye to do.

And while you are at it: Contact BOTH of your U.S. SENATORS, and the WHITE HOUSE, and tell them that you will settle for nothing less than a ROBUST PUBLIC OPTION as part of health care reform!

[leftstreet]

1. What did 'robust' mean anyway?

pfft

[Shagbark Hickory]

2. Writing letters and signing petitions didn't work before and it's not going to work now.

The worthless wastes in congress know something like 68% of americans want a public option.
If only there were lobbiests for the people. Oh yeah. that's right, our lobbiests quit working for us because the corporations paid better.

If the potus demanded there be a public option then we might have a chance but he makes no mention of it. He just finished giving a speech in tampa florida and mentioned healthcare but nothing about a public option. You know something is dead when the potus makes it clear that something is off the table. He made it crystal clear about single payer being off the table and now he's made it clear there won't be a public option.

[itsrobert]

3. Obama says,

We are Americans, and Americans don't quit.

[Shagbark Hickory]

5. Yeah he says a lot of things.

Americans don't stand a chance against corporations. If people want to keep trying and writing letters and signing petitions, go ahead if you think that's going to make a change. We need strong leadership.

[NorthCarolina]

10. He also says of health care reform, if you have a better idea

I want to know about it. Well, single payer IS a better idea...but legislators are not permitted to discuss it.

[cap]

7. 'cept all the activism did get Obama in office.

nobody said life was easy...

as Obama said, if not this, what's your plan?

Going to your garden and doing yoga aint going to do anything when your wallet is empty and you are in pain from a health condition

[thotzRthingz]

11. re: "'cept all the activism did get Obama in office" amen...

It is not up to Obama, it is not up to CONGRESS, is it up to *WE THE PEOPLE* to demand (of those we sent to represent us) what we want. If we decide to roll-over and play dead (after throwing a temper-tantrum or two), then we have NO ONE to blame but ourselves.

LOOK PEOPLE: this thing ain't over, if we say it isn't. PETITIONS phone calls, emails, and letters are the VERY REASON that some 43 members of the HOUSE have sent a letter to Harry Reid, to pass a public option via reconciliation. They did NOT do that just because they woke up this morning and decided on their own to do so... they did it because their constituents HOUNDED THEM to do so (and the results in MA... where Independents & Progressives sent a CLEAR MESSAGE that "change" was not coming as promised, and more of the same results would be forthcoming *IF* they did not get off their asses and do our bidding, was what spurred them on).

So "give up" if you want to do so... but doing that is a very serious mistake!

We can do this people, it doesn't take all that much effort or time. Just be sure that you encourage your family, friends, and neighbors to DO LIKEWISE (see my OP)!

[Shagbark Hickory]

14. But it isn't up to "we-the-ppl". It's up the the Health Denial Companies.

Haven't you learned anything over the last 6-8 mos?
The people that were fighting for us all caved.
When the public option died, it was just a matter of a few special favors and they supported it anyway.

[cap]

8. 'cept all the activism did get Obama in office.

nobody said life was easy...

as Obama said, if not this, what's your plan?

Going to your garden and doing yoga aint going to do anything when your wallet is empty and you are in pain from a health condition

[Tom Rinaldo]

4. Actually it only takes 50 Senators, Biden would cast the tie breaking vote n/t

[thotzRthingz]

6. I actually meant to say "51 votes" ... thanks for the correction (n/t)

[thotzRthingz]

9. in my travels through various online forums... I see nonbelievers, skeptics, trolls, and

outright shills (obvious FOR-PROFIT plants, enablers, or supporters).

But I also see people who believe that THEY can make a difference. In fact; it is ONLY PEOPLE who are willing to make that difference, who will act (and not be cynical or apathetic in their demeanor). Some will do it silently... but I suggest we all get VERY LOUD about having a PUBLIC OPTION signed into HCR law!

[Luminous Animal]

12. I call Pelosi every time I get new information on the viability of the public option.

Signed and kicked.


And screw the do-nothings.

[thotzRthingz]

15. re: "And screw the do-nothings." ... I would rather they make LOTS OF CALLS... ;-)

Thank you, for your continued efforts!

I got an email update this morning: the number is growing... but we need more people to call their congressional reps... and insist that they support this effort! Here's the pertinent info, from that email:

"Thanks largely to grassroots phone calls, in 48 hours a whopping 63 House Democrats signed the letter calling for the public option through reconciliation."

After being told IT'S DEAD, for the umpteenth time, I refuse to give up! And apparently there are still some in CONGRESS who are listening. From TWO to 63, in 48 hours! PHONE CALLS do make a difference...

[democratus]

13. It's dead

cause it was killed.

No letters or calls will alter any of this. The public option sucked as it was. Universal single-payer health care is the only solution. The only way to get to that is massive sit-ins, occupying offices and determined direct action.

Everything else has been tried. Everythig else has failed. No need to keep with failed strategy. That's madness.

[thotzRthingz]

16. (so far) 63 House members have signed-on ... where are the SENATORS? we need to be

CALLING them as well!

Take a look at the LIST, included in this article... see how many DEMANDED a public option, and how many others SUPPORT same... and ask them WHY they aren't doing their impersonation of a "LIE-be-man" (only from the opposite end of the spectrum)?!

29 January 2010
List of 51 Senate Democrats Who Support a Public Option: What’s Stopping Them Now?

Some day, just for kicks, I’m going to collect quotes from every scold who called upon their volumes of wisdom about Senate procedure to decree that Joe Lieberman must be the ultimate decider on any health care bill, because after all it took 60 vote to pass anything. Because now as we’ve known all along, that’s a self-imposed limitation that the Senate can surmount if they want to.

But let’s remember that back in August, when Chuck Schumer was pushing to pass health care through reconciliation, here was the guy who was running the health care show on behalf of the White House:

acknowledged the political realities that have made the Finance Committee’s still-unfinished cooperative plan a center of attention.

“We have heard from both chambers that the House sees a public plan as essential for the final product, and the Senate believes it cannot pass it as constructed and a co-op is what they can do,” Mr. Emanuel said. “We are cognizant of that fact.”

And then he handed the keys over to Joe Lieberman and Blanche Lincoln to write a wildly unpopular bill that is threatening to take down the party.

When he voted against a public option on the Senate Finance Committe, Max Baucus — who as supported a public option in the past — said he did so because it couldn’t get 60 votes in the Senate. And now they can’t even get 50 votes to agree to change the bill in any way.

So should we conclude that the 51 Democrats in the Senate who said they support a public option when 60 votes were needed were all full of ****, now that the bar is down to 50 and they’re still not moving?

Here is a list of the 51 Democrats who said they support a public option:

<...snip...>

- source: http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/01/29/list-of-51-senate-democrats-who-support-a-public-option-whats-stopping-them-now/

[thotzRthingz]

17. ...64 House members are fighting on, so just carrying THIS FIGHT to another thread:

List of 51 Senate Democrats Who Support a Public Option: WHAT’S STOPPING THEM NOW?
ref: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7602181