this is why I do not like Dems very much...

Hours After Pelosi Backs off on Public Option, Health Lobbyist Announces Fundraiser in Her Honor
Posted by David Sirota, Open Left at 3:47 PM on September 11, 2009.

Corruption and legalized bribery has become so widespread that nobody in Washington even tries to hide it. Post Tools
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the first time yesterday suggested she may be backing off her support of the public option. According to CNN, Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid "said they would support any provision that increases competition and accessibility for health insurance - whether or not it is the public option favored by most Democrats." When "asked if inclusion of a public option was a non-negotiable demand - as her previous statements had indicated  Pelosi ruled out any non-negotiable positions," according to CNN.

This announcement came just hours before Steve Elmendorf, a registered UnitedHealth lobbyist and the head of UnitedHealth's lobbying firm Elmendorf Strategies, blasted this email invitation throughout Washington, D.C. I just happened to get my hands on a copy of the invitation from a source - check out this OpenLeft exclusive:



From: Steve Elmendorf [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 8:31 AM
Subject: event with Speaker Pelosi at my home
You are cordially invited to a reception with

Speaker of the House
Nancy Pelosi

Thursday, September 24, 2009
6:30pm ~ 8:00pm

At the home of
Steve Elmendorf
2301 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Apt. 7B
Washington, D.C.

$5,000 PAC
$2,400 Individual

To RSVP or for additional information please contact
Carmela Clendening at (202) 485-3508 or [email protected]

Steve Elmendorf            
ELMENDORF STRATEGIES
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS SOLUTIONS
900 7th Street NW Suite 750  Washington DC 20001
(202) 737-1655

Again, Elmendorf is a registered lobbyist for UnitedHealth, and his firm's website brags about its work for UnitedHealth on its website (Elmendorf was also a chief of staff for Democratic Minority Leader Dick Gephardt).

The sequencing here is important: Pelosi makes her announcement and then just hours later, the fundraising invitation goes out. Coincidental? I'm guessing no - these things rarely ever are.

I wrote a book a few years ago called Hostile Takeover whose premise was that corruption and legalized bribery has become so widespread that nobody in Washington even tries to hide it. This is about as good an example of that truism as I've ever seen.



Tagged as: health care, nancy pelosi, lobbyist, public option, steve elemendorf, fundraiser
David Sirota was the top spokesman for Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee. He is currently writing a book on the middle class economic squeeze for Crown Publishers. You can contact him at Davidsirota.com.

American Girls and American Guys
We’ll always stand up and salute
We’ll always recognize
When we see Old Glory Flying
There’s a lot of men dead
So we can sleep in peace at night
When we lay down our head

My daddy served in the army
Where he lost his right eye
But he flew a flag out in our yard
’til the day that he died
He wanted my mother, and my brother, my sister and me
To grow up and live happy
In the land of the free.

Now this nation that I love
Has fallen under attack
A mighty sucker punch came flyin in
From somewhere in the back
Soon as we could see clearly
Through our big black eye
Man, we lit up your world
Like the 4th of July

Hey Uncle Sam
Put your name at the top of his list
And the Statue of Liberty
Started shakin her fist
And the eagle will fly
And its gonna be hell
When you hear Mother Freedom
Start ringin her bell
It’ll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you
Aw brought to you Courtesy of the Red White and Blue


Justice will be served
And the battle will rage
This big dog will fight
When you rattle his cage
You’ll be sorry that you messed with
The U.S. of A.
'Cause we'll put a BOOT in your ass
It's the American way

Hey Uncle Sam
Put your name at the top of his list
And the Statue of Liberty
Started shakin’ her fist
And the eagle will fly
Man, it’s gonna be hell
When you hear mother Freedom
Start ringin’ her bell
And it feels like the whole wide world is raining down on you now
Aw brought to you Courtesy of the Red White and Blue

Riffhard wrote on Sep 11^th, 2009 at 7:09pm:


Those Guys had the guts when they signed that old Paper. God Bless this Country Please don't forget this day.

Nearly 3,000 days have passed, almost one for each of those taken from us. Let us renew our resolve against those who perpetrated this barbaric attack and who plot against us still. . . . We will do everything in our power to keep our nation safe.

Once more we pause, once more we pray, as a nation and as a people.  We remember those lost. We read their names. We press their photos to our hearts. . . . We recall the beauty and meaning of their lives.

We pay tribute to the service of a new generation, young Americans raised in a time of peace and plenty, who saw their nation in a time of need and chose to serve.  Scripture teaches us a hard truth: The mountains may fall and the Earth may give way, the flesh and the heart may fail, but after all our suffering God and grace will restore you and make you firm, solid and steadfast.

Today,  the nation should observe not the human capacity for evil, but the human capacity for good. . . On this first National Day of Service of Remembrance, we can summon once again that ordinary goodness of America.

On a day when others sought to sap our confidence, let us renew our common purpose. United not only in our grief, but in our resolve to stand for one another, to stand up for the country we all love. Our commitment to our nation's core causes is the strongest rebuke to those who attacked us.

PartyDoll MEG wrote on Sep 11^th, 2009 at 7:46pm:

I guess it should be me that ask that question

man o man...

i was just driving down the interstate past the mall of america on my way to get the Kia fixed....and this big assed 747 flew over my head.....i looked up to see what airline it was and it was blue and white with "the united states of america" written on the side of it. what a sweet ride!

i shouted "riffy sends his love" out the window as loud as i could but i don't think barry heard me.

PartyDoll MEG wrote on Sep 11^th, 2009 at 7:46pm:

Yeah,it's still the cut and paste thread.

Pdog wrote on Sep 13^th, 2009 at 9:08am:




I'm so fucking sick of this horseshit stupid fuck argument about Bush destroying the Constitution with the Patriot Act!! That is a stupid intellectually lazy assed argument that ignores many FACTS!!!


Fact #1- The bill passed with bi-partisan support!!!


Fact #2- In a time of war many aspects of personal liberty are surrendered for the safety of the nation! Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus during the Civil War! Why don't you limp wristed liberals bitch about that too!!! Lincoln also suspended free speech and a free press in many forms! You want to bitch about that too?!?! Of course not! In retrospect everyone with any common sense knows that Lincoln was trying to preserve and protect the Union. He had to act with executive authority to preserve and protect the Union, and he did so. Bush was faced with the worst ever attack on American soil, and the worst terrorist attack in world history, and what do limp wristed liberals do? Attack Bush for trying to protect the Union! Pathetic!!!

Fact #3- You liberals can not name one person that was directly affected or put out because of the Patriot Act! I'm not talking about people who are refused boarding on an airline due to some mix up or mistake. I'm talking about an American who had his or her liberty directly violated in some harmful obtrusive way that brought pain or suffering! Name one person that you know?! I'll wait.


Fact #4- Bush had absolutely nothing to gain politically by enacting the Patriot Act! In fact the idiot moron liberals had much more to gain politically by opposing it! Bush gained nothing but scorn and derision from a bunch of panty waste pussies who used the bill's passage as another weapon with which to attack Bush!!


Fact #5- Obama sucks with teeth! His move to nationalize health care has a direct correlation to his political motives! This is a huge distinction form Bush passing the Patriot Act (with bi partisan support!!) Why do think that so many union, including the AMA, and big pharma are in Barry's back pocket?!?! By an overwhelming number Americans DO NOT want what Barry is trying to force down our collective throats!! Think that going to stop the ideological fuck from trying to do it any way?! Think again! This bastard doesn't give two flying fucks what "most Americans:" want! It's all about what he wants! And he wants POWER!!!! You could never say that about Bush!!!!



Fact #6- This insane Patriot Act argument has been destroyed!






Riffy

fuman wrote on Sep 13^th, 2009 at 12:37pm:




Funman you're wrong! Period! Over 80% of Americans are perfectly happy with their coverage, but you believe that Obama, a man who has accomplished absolutely nothing yet he still has managed to write two autobiographies, is right about dismantling the entire health care system to implement this so-called "public option"! Insane does not even begin to describe that line of logic. What this is really about for you, and liberals like you, is a blind faith that Obama has a clue. He doesn't. This about nothing more than a power grab for him and the Democrats. Democrats that have stupidly handed over their once great party to the most far left radicals of their base. They are going to pay a huge price for that idiocy. If Obama really cared about this health care plan than why is he not doing anything to reel in the bankrupt Medicaid program? Why does the plan, such as it is, not even go into effect until 2013? Why? Because this about politics plain and simple! If you bothered to read any of Obama's true plans, or about his radical far left ideology you'd know that. You would rather keep your blinders on and pretend that this clown knows what he's doing. He knows alright! You're just too smitten with a cult of personality to see it yourself. Thus you are a drone.


Did you happen to see the tens of thousands of protesters in DC yesterday? Or did MSNBC once again refer to these Americans as "tea baggers"?


2010 is going to really wake you up. I'll tell you right here, and right now, that Obama is a one term chump! He has already spent more tax payer dollars than every president in US history. Hell he has already spent more money than any leader in world history!!! Americans are sick of it, and they are waking up. Barry has totally lost the senior vote. He has lost the independents, and he is the most divisive president ever! That includes Bush. The facts suck, but they do support my side of the argument, and all of the liberal bitching, and wishful thinking will not change that.





Riffy

Riffhard wrote on Sep 13^th, 2009 at 12:52pm:



66% of Americans polled would like to see a government run option similar to Medicare. Of the 80% you cite, how many are opposed to covering the have-nots? Do they prefer to pay emergency room rates out of their taxes rather than get them covered?

So are you going on record that you want to dismantle Medicare, Medicaid, and the VA? Or, as I suspect, a bit of a socialist yourself?

The far left radicals have taken over the DNC?  That's pretty stupid. Even for you.

You honestly believe that health care reform is about politics? I thought you were a "money is holy" type?
You haven't heard the arguments regarding health costs versus GNP?

I still believe that even as big of a problem that health care is, climate change is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. I've read that you think it's a hoax, but believe me, your kids are gonna question your attitude towards their future in the coming decades. Well, maybe they will be able to get health care when it all starts tumbling down. Maybe you won't be around to see them try to compete for limited food and water. Maybe . . .

Lastly, of all of the money that the Obama Administration has spent to date, it was all because of the failings of Reaganomics. Not one dime has been spent on his agenda yet. So if you're having trouble now, you're in for some tough years ahead. And your crystal ball approach to 2010 is just that. We shall see. I'll lose no sleep until the campaigns begin. From what I've seen, the Repubs "greatest hits" are going to be a big hurdle for your side. Of course, you still have the "vote for us or your soul will be in danger" approach. But in a couple of years, that may be futile too.

Bottom line. Obama sucks! Everyone knows it except for some small minded drones, and hard leftist types. 2010 is going to be a big lesson to all of you. Obama is done after one term, and I'd be willing to wager a C note on that right now! Any takers? I'll take any, and all of you on right now! Bring it!


The AMA is not a union per se, but only 35% of all medical doctors are members, and they are in fact cooperating with Obama for political gain and nothing more, just like unions are. My doctor is also a personal friend of mine, and he tells me that every single physician that he deals with is petrified of Barry's power grabbing schemes! Bush was one trillion time the president that this Marxist fuck is! Deal with it drones!


OBAMA SUCKS!



Riffy

"Did you happen to see the tens of thousands of protesters in DC yesterday? Or did MSNBC once again refer to these Americans as "tea baggers"?"

I did see some coverage. Looked like many tens of thousands.
Some very patriotic lookin' folks. 99% white, not that this means anything to you.

I can't remember exactly how one disposes of an American flag, so I'll defer to the "real" patriots.

I found this on one of my many Godless sites:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6173399/Charles-Darwi...

Charles Darwin film 'too controversial for religious America'

. . . . However, US distributors have resolutely passed on a film which will prove hugely divisive in a country where, according to a Gallup poll conducted in February, only 39 per cent of Americans believe in the theory of evolution.


39% ? Much more than I would have expected.