Line by line... page by page... Swiftboating Obama "Care"

[CLB]

Oh, the night is early and the crazy is already long. Especially for those COMMITTED to destroying Barack Obama --the supposed liberal black knight of socialism. Therefore, folks like me who are COMMITTED to keeping a candle lit to show the way to the solution through their rage-fear corridors of disinformation are finding one-be-one, those little emails they shoot out carrying darts of fear when we aren't looking.

One such email showed up in my inbox from an alternative medical practitioner that I actually know. I was shocked to see it come through his hands!

This is it in part (and I imagine you've seen it by now as well):

Subject: An Indianapolis Doctor's Letter to Sen. Bayh about the Healthcare Bill
I don’t live in Indiana but I think that the information is important for all of us.

Great information for you (UNLESS) you think you will never need healthcare).
Subject: An Indianapolis Doctor's Letter to Sen. Bayh about the Healthcare Bill
=0 A
---> Here is a letter I sent to Senator Bayh. Feel free to copy it and send it around to our other representatives.
>
> Stephen Fraser
>
> July 23, 2009
>
>
> Senator Bayh,
>
> As a practicing physician I have major concerns with the healthcare bill before Congress. I actually have read the bill and am shocked by the brazenness of the government 's proposed involvement in the patient physician relationship. The very idea that the government will dictate and ration patient care is dangerous and certainly not helpful in designing a healthcare system that works for all. Every physician I work with agrees that we need to fix our healthcare system, but the proposed bills currently making their way through congress will be a disaster if passed.
>
> I ask you respectfully and as a patriotic American to look at the following troubling lines that I have read in the bill. You cannot possibly believe that these proposals are in the best interests of the country and our fellow citizens.
>
>
> Page 22 of the HC Bill: Mandates that the Govt will audit books of all employers that self insure!!
>
> Page 30 Sec 123 of HC bill - THERE WILL BE A GOVT COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get.
>
> Page 29 lines 4-16 in the HC bill: YOUR HEALTH CARE IS RATIONED!!!
>
>
> Page 42 of HC Bill:The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HC Benefits for you. You have no choice!
>
> Page 50 Section 152 in HC bill: HC will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise
>
> Page 58 HC Bill: Govt will have real-time access to individuals finances & a National ID Healthcard will be issued!
>
> Page 59 HC Bill lines 21-24: Govt will have direct access to you ur banks accounts for elective funds transfer.
>
> Page 65 Sec 164: is a payoff subsidized plan for retirees and their families in Unions & community organizations: (ACORN).
>
> Page 84 Sec 203 HC bill: Govt mandates ALL benefit packages for private HC plans in the Exchange.

I shot back to him an excoriating email, the links to the founders of Conservatives for Patients Rights http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Conservatives_for_Patients_Rights (one of the groups running nearly minute-to-minute ads on FOX and founded by a SWIFTBOAT originator), as well as this comment to another posting of the same email, ripped from the original source which I don't think ever saw a Doctor:

Here is a link to H.R. 3200, which is the source of the claims in the original post...

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin ... 3200ih.pdf

Or... you can just take Bih Keh Hi's word for it! Wink

Just for fun, I'll start. Page 22 DOES NOT mandate that the government audit all businesses that self-insure. In fact, the provisions contained on pages 21 and 22 discuss the preparation of a study comparing various insured and self-insured employers. There is absolutely no discussion of any audits at all.

Next.

So, what is the bottom line?

I can find the Doctor by name searching online but not find his direct contact info. The original post is on Free Republic http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2302983/posts and was posted by someone who said his friend received it as a "forward".
I may just commit myself to finding this doctor and asking him myself to verify the letter, justify his claims and if not from his own direct research from where they come...but until then...

You, my friends, are the front line in defending Health Insurance Reform.

Email by email, unsourced rumor by rumor, line by line-- and it literally IS line by line-- if you have the stomach for it and especially if you have the time and information, commit to taking on just one source, one friend-- and put the truth to the lie-- one email, or comment or line of HR 3200-- so that even if you LOVE your health insurance, you can demonstrate the difference between actual progressive values ("I am not a sociopath, therefore I CARE") and mechanical Heritage Foundation social engineering think-tank talk ("You got yours, why should you care?")...

Cross-posted on Roots Up Radio http://rootsupradio.com/Forum/tabid/68/forumid/3/threadid/36/scope/posts/Default.aspx and Action Point with Cynthia Black http://actionpointonline.com/2009/07/29/line-by-line-page-by-page-swiftboating-obama-care/.

[TexasLibGirl]

Cynthia, I'm actually shocked that I haven't received this email. In fact, come to think of it, I haven't been receiving any emails of this type. I think everyone that knows me, knows how I feel about this subject, especially THIS subject and must have decided not to send them to me for fear of my replies. And, I don't mean that in the sense that they fear my response as much as they don't want to listen to my response. They know I will defend health care reform to the bitter end even if Obama's plan is not as progressive as I would have liked. But, you are right...we need to follow through with responding to these types of emails and do so in an intelligent, informative manner to get these people to see that they don't have the facts straight.

Thanks for posting this!

[mollykolly]

CLB, Thanks for posting this. I know I have family that are starting to be turned against Obama though they all rode the change wave. Now they are doubting because they watch too much teeveee. I think there needed(s) to be pre-emptive offensive to these attacks. Obama and staff need to predict this shit coming from the other side. They are not going to lay down and let their way of life, pocket books and ideology be wiped away easily, so there will be dirt thrown our way and swiftboating is their main form of dealing with the opposition. What I would like is a debunking the healthcare myths site, thread or whatever. The sooner Obama can do this the better.

[breezy]

CLB, Thanks for posting this. I know I have family that are starting to be turned against Obama though they all rode the change wave. Now they are doubting because they watch too much teeveee. I think there needed(s) to be pre-emptive offensive to these attacks. Obama and staff need to predict this shit coming from the other side. They are not going to lay down and let their way of life, pocket books and ideology be wiped away easily, so there will be dirt thrown our way and swiftboating is their main form of dealing with the opposition. What I would like is a debunking the healthcare myths site, thread or whatever. The sooner Obama can do this the better.

Your wish is granted!!
Health Care Reform Myths - an Information Clearing House
BobR & Raine are behind this; Mavs put it in this thread, the other day: Busting the Myths Surrounding Health Care Reform

[christine]

http://www.drscore.com/Indiana/Anesthes ... 05786.html

http://www.healthgrades.com/directory_s ... hg_DrFNLNg

Let's see what I can dig up on this bozo...

[CLB]

On the good doctor..I tried to track him down too. There is no listing for him in Indianapolis as an MD, but I did call the only listing for the name and left a message. I explained I was a progressive talk show host calling from Phoenix, AZ and if he was in fact the doctor who had penned a letter that had since been posted to Free Republic with claims debating various aspects of HR 3200, to please give me a call...

The alternative practitioner also got back to me. HE said he could not find the MD searching himself, but that my blog post came up on the Google search for the MD's name (as did quite a few other posts including the same 'letter'). He thanked me for pointing the disinformation in the forwarded email out to him, and added that of all the people to whom it was forwarded, I was the only who bothered to respond.

Interesting.

And I LOVE that Healthcare Reform Myths site. Sooooo useful and timely!

[Raine]

Health Care Reform Myths - an Information Clearing House
BobR & Raine are behind this; Mavs put it in this thread, the other day: Busting the Myths Surrounding Health Care Reform

I HEART you Breezy!

Just wanted to show my face and say thank you all so much. We are currently working on the interface and will be debunking new myths -- including the rest of that damn email. I have a friend who has gone thru the bill (read it TWICE) line by line and pretty much debunked it all.


The next thing, and I cannot stress this enough is to send these debunked myths as needed to congress, What I am learning is that -- surprise surprise-- Many of the critters are not aware that these myths are out there.

Also -- regarding our new site... keep coming back -- Hopefully this baby will get much bigger than bob and I ever planned. I will tell y'all more as I can.

Raine

[zowanda]

How about if we all post a link on our facebook or myspace page? What do you think Raine?

[MavericksHMB]

Raine, thanks for stopping by!

Zow, I have already linked to the site from my facebook page. Don't just link it once, though. Every so often, bump it again to make sure people see it.

[Raine]

Well looky looky... Someone sent me a myth to debunk over at HCMyths... I found what I think is the ORIGINAL source of the Viral email:
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.3815/pub_detail.asp

Peter Fleckenstein, a blogger and former Marine from Phoenix, Arizona, is going through the ObamaCare bill page by page and highlighting the provisions he finds there. Here, clearly, Fleckenstein has struck a nerve. His list, originally published as a series of Twitter posts, has gone viral via email. Within days, the liberal fascists published his personal information on Twitter as a means to silence him. Fleckenstein promises legal action.

Hmmm interesting, I thought I would share this. Now I have to find a way to further debunk this myth! At least I have a name FINALLY!

[MavericksHMB]

Sic 'em, Raine! Good job! I wish it was as easy to get this viral email out of circulation!

[CLB]

O.M.G!

This appears to be the the Twitter list so-called Doctor Stephen Fraser cut and paste in a letter to Bayh: http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2009/07/whats-in-healthacre-bill.html

And this:

Peter Fleckenstein, a blogger and former Marine from Phoenix, Arizona, is going through the ObamaCare bill page by page and highlighting the provisions he finds there. Here, clearly, Fleckenstein has struck a nerve. His list, originally published as a series of Twitter posts, has gone viral via email. Within days, the liberal fascists published his personal information on Twitter as a means to silence him. Fleckenstein promises legal action.

is HYSTERICAL!

I have sent Fleckenstein (Fleckman as he is known on Twitter) a request for the entire list, with a note that I want it because it is being debunked and I want him to be represented accurately! This should be fun. If it breaks into a public Tweet fest, I will let you all know.

BTW, this (I guess) is a myth-busting site Big Eddy mentioned on air...http://pleasecutthecrap.typepad.com/main/2009/07/deconstructing-the-right-wing-lies-health-bill.html

UPDATE: Fleckman and I (and a half dozen or so others he seems to be sharing the posts with) are in something of a Twit-fest. HE is claiming the email being debunked has been altered by the left to smear him (?) or something. Anyway, here is a post to another site where he is attempting to explain his analysis (such that it is): http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2009/07/whats-in-healthacre-bill.html

I have repeatedly asked him for an original list. So far, he is not delivering. Will keep you all updated.

UPDATE 2: I am finding lists of supposed analysis of HR 3200 in more places. Like this unique one on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=24430422058&topic=9355 and this one from the Christian nationalists at Liberty Council claiming it was originated by Fleckenstein: http://actionpointonline.com/documents/healthcare_overview_obama_072909-1.pdf

And for even more fun, here is a PDF flyer going around: http://actionpointonline.com/documents/Stop_Socialized_HC.pdf

[will from chicago]

The misinformation continues, and we are going to see more of it in the coming months. My advice is to be aware of what is being said and counter the lies with facts and persuasive arguments.

Good work, everyone!