IT'S TIME TO TELL THE REPUBLICANS TO STUFF IT

I proudly voted for President Obama. However, I believe that he has one major flaw: he's too nice. Now, I know that "nice" is generally not recognized as a flaw. In President Obama's case, however, his willingness to bend over backwards to reach a compromise with Republicans on health care may lead to a watered down bill which will not solve our serious health care problems.

I am sick and tired of all of the lies that the Republicans are telling about the mythical health care bill. Supposedly fair-minded Republicans (I know, that's an oxymoron) such as Senator Grassley have used lies and stalling tactics to hurt the chances of true health care reform in our country.

Some of the lies are obvious. The so-called "Death panels" trumpeted by quitter Sarah Palin and Mush Limpballs (eh, Rush Limbaugh) would be laughable if it were not for the fact that a significant portion of the population believe in that total fabrication. Other lies such as the whopper that "Obama is trying to kill off old people" fly in the face of reality but once again have otherwise intelligent people quoting the lie as gospel.

I'm also sick and tired of hearing R's say that "The United States has the best health care system on the planet." Really? Then why are we ranked 37th by the World Health Organization? Why do we rank 50th in infant mortality? Why are Americans life expectancies significantly lower than most first world countries?

The only people who may be getting great health care are the super rich and folks that are on Medicare. Therein lies still another falsehood that Republicans have been spouting for over 75 years. Every attempt at providing a cushion for the poor or old in our country has been labeled as "Socialism" by the Ronald Reagan right. The Republicans fought Social Security because it was "Socialism". The R's fought Medicaid and Medicare for the same bogus reason. Hell, the R's are the main reason we don't have a better child care program in this country because, you guessed it, that would be "Socialism."

Have these people no shame? Fifty million people in this country have no insurance and thousands are added to that total each month. Of those who have medical insurance, premiums have gone up over 200% in the last decade. Medical costs, including drugs, have also sky-rocketed in price.

It is time that President Obama and the Senate and House leadership tell the Republicans to go to hell. They lost the last election because the Chaney/Bush administration sold the country one bad bill of goods after another. At the very least, the Democrats should pass a Health Bill which includes the public option so that insurance companies will be forced to lower their premiums. I personally would rather see a Medicare bill for every man, woman and child in this country.

Please, if you care about the health of your fellow Americans, write your Congressman and Senators and tell them to pass meaningful health care legislation. If you have a Republican Congressman and/or Senators, tell them they are on the wrong side of this issue. I know most Republicans won't listen since they are bought and paid for by the Insurance lobbies, but it might convince a few of them to think about what they are doing.

It's time to change the way we are treating Americans who cannot afford insurance or decent health care. Please, Mr. President and Democratic leaders, ignore the party of "No", and help the citizens of this country.