N.O.W. opposes current HCR:

[amborin]

"National Organization for Woman has come out against the Senate health care bill. Wow.

“The so-called health care reform bill now before the Senate, with the addition of Majority Leader Harry Reid’s Manager’s Amendment, amounts to a health insurance bill for half the population and a sweeping anti-abortion law for the rest of us,” NOW President Terry O’Neill said in a statement.

“We call on all senators who consider themselves friends of women’s rights to reject the Manager’s Amendment, and if it remains, to defeat this cruelly over-compromised legislation,” O’Neill added."

from fire dog lake


also:

new developments, re: the "Manager's Amendment," which replaces "Nationwide...."

"The CBO score is out. The top line numbers? The bill costs $871 billion and would save the federal government $132 billion over the next ten years. The changes in the manager’s amendment amounted to a net $2 billion dollar savings. The bill would cover 31 million people and leave 23 million uninsured by 2019.

• On the abortion issue: states could prohibit abortion coverage in the exchange if they passed a law. This basically punts the Stupak issue to the states, and if the exchanges expand over time as expected, essentially end abortion services coverage in states that pass a law. This becomes a huge culture war battle in states for years and years to come. Good for pro- and anti-abortion groups’ fundraising coffers, bad for women.

• The CLASS Act, the federally managed, voluntary long-term care program, is still in the bill. Lieberman may have mentioned it on Face The Nation, but he didn’t kill it.

• The public option is replaced with the OPM-managed multi-state plans in the exchanges. Not all of them have to be non-profits; in fact, only one of them has to be.

• The individual mandate penalty actually looks a little higher here, although it’s phased in over time. It would be the “greater of a flat dollar amount per person or a percentage of the individual’s income,” up to 2% by 2015."

snip

<http://news.firedoglake.com/>

[mcablue]

1. I understand their position, in light of the anti-abortion handouts given to Nelson

It's sad.

[Number23]

32. I do too. It's disturbing to see Nelson crowing about his efforts to control abotion

funding being so successful. I'm sure this is something that his constituents consider important, hence why he's so involved in this, but as a woman I find his laser like focus on this one issue disconcerting.

[Armstead]

2. To hell with 'em. Just a bunch of damn liberal feminists.

(sarcasm)

[Joe Bacon]

3. Make it apply both ways

No Viagra. No Cialis. No Levitra.

[dkf]

4. These scumbags have turned me into a fire breathing feminist.

Now I know why we need to elect more women. I also say SHAME on Barbara Boxer and all the other female Senators if they let this stand.

[angee_is_mad]

5. and that is suppose to be a surprise?

give me a fucking break. They are and have been anti-obama too.

[mcablue]

6. Can you provide evidence of them being "anti-Obama"?

Please. Good evidence. They endorse Obama-Binde, for one. http://www.now.org/press/09-08/09-16.html
They certainly don't like right-wingers. Their "media hall of shame" is full of criticism against Republicans: http://www.now.org/issues/media/hall-of-shame/index.php/radio/glenn-beck-hispanic-chick-lady

How can you be anti-Obama and speak up constantly against sexist Republicans?

[IndianaGreen]

9. If you oppose Big Brother, you become an ally of Emmanuel Goldstein

the bogeyman in Orwell's 1984.

[Bluenorthwest]

10. You do know that NOW endoresed Obama for President

and that they typically do not endorse a candidate at all? They went an extra mile for Senator Obama. So you are just far off base and out of bounds with a comment like that.

[BklnDem75]

13. Well... not exactly...

Women have just experienced the ultimate betrayal. Senator Kennedy’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton’s opponent in the Democratic presidential primary campaign has really hit women hard. Women have forgiven Kennedy, stuck up for him, stood by him, hushed the fact that he was late in his support of Title IX, the ERA, and the Family and Medical Leave Act to name a few. Women have buried their anger that his support for the compromises in No Child Left Behind and the Medicare bogus drug benefit brought us the passage of these flawed bills. We have thanked him for his ardent support of many civil rights bills, BUT women are always waiting in the wings.

And now the greatest betrayal! We are repaid with his abandonment! He’s picked the new guy over us.


http://www.nownys.org/pr_2008/pr_012808.html


Marcia Pappas, the President of the New York State chapter of the National Organization of Women, gained a bit of notoriety on Monday when she called Sen. Ted Kennedy's endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama the "ultimate betrayal" of women. The logic went something like this: Kennedy's endorsement was driven not by shared political beliefs but rather a patriarchal mentality that women like Sen. Hillary Clinton should not, be president.

Provocative, to be sure. But, it turns out, not the first (or perhaps most) controversial statement made by the NOW head in the 2008 campaign. Weeks earlier, in a organizational press release, Pappas described the reaction to Clinton's now famous "crying" moment in New Hampshire as a "psychological gang bang" -- similar to the raping of Jodi Foster's character in The Accused.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/31/now-head-described-treatm_n_84156.html

[angee_is_mad]

18. how easy people forget the past unless

its to show how much they supported Barack Obama, before they go on their anti-Obama rant.

[mcablue]

24. Why did NOW defend Obama regarding the news about him checking out a teenager?

http://www.now.org/issues/media/hall-of-shame/index.php/print-pubs/washington-post-implies-all-men-includin

Thank God I and other members have debunked the claim that NOW "is and has been anti-Obama," when the truth is that sometimes it has disagreed with him, and sometimes it has disagreed and defended him. Blanket statements are not good.

This is simple: You love the bill and NOW opposes it. That's why you are saying what you're saying about NOW and its being "anti-Obama".

[ClarkUSA]

29. Exactly.

You got that right.

[Starry Messenger]

21. The NY branch is not the National Office. n/t

[mcablue]

22. That only means they liked Hillary better than Obama

Did you want to force them to endorse Obamam over Hillary?

[angee_is_mad]

25. They reluctantly supported him in the General

like you'll did. Therefore, when they now state they do not support HRC, I'm not surprised. Just like I'm not surprise by you'll bashing Obama.

He wasn't the President you wanted and less than a year out you want him out.

[Jamastiene]

37. So, are you saying that an organization that ENDORSED Obama

has always been against Obama. Explain to me how that you reconcile that illogical statement in your head.

[Laelth]

7. k&r for NOW. Good for them. n/t

Kill the bill.

Forcing people to buy insurance is no more the answer to a failed health care

system than forcing people to buy houses is the solution to homelessness.

:dem:

-Laelth

[IndianaGreen]

8. K&R n/t

:kick:

[jefferson_dem]

11. As expected.

The anti-choice groups are against it also.

[IndianaGreen]

12. NOW President Condemns Compromised Health Care Bill

NOW President Condemns Compromised Health Care Bill;
Women's Access to Abortion Care Traded Away

Statement of Terry O'Neill, NOW President

December 19, 2009

The so-called health care reform bill now before the Senate, with the addition of Majority Leader Harry Reid's Manager's Amendment, amounts to a health insurance bill for half the population and a sweeping anti-abortion law for the rest of us. And by the way, it's the rest of us who voted the current leadership into both houses of Congress.

The National Organization for Women is outraged that Senate leadership would cave in to Sen. Ben Nelson, offering a compromise that amounts to a Stupak-like ban on insurance coverage for abortion care. Right-wing ideologues like Nelson and the Catholic Bishops may not understand this, but abortion is health care. And health care reform is not true reform if it denies women coverage for the full range of reproductive health services.

We call on all senators who consider themselves friends of women's rights to reject the Manager's Amendment, and if it remains, to defeat this cruelly over-compromised legislation.

###

For Immediate Release

http://www.now.org/press/12-09/12-19.html

[amborin]

14. NOW worked hard to elect Obama:

<http://now.org/issues/election/elections2008/organizing102408.html>

[bigwillq]

15. But...but....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x75511#75543

[pecwae]

16. O'Neill's statement calls

it exactly like it is. This is NOT Health Care Reform!

[IndianaGreen]

17. and Obama's health czar is a corporate whore and a crook to boot

Obama's health czar is a corporate whore!

Nancy-Ann DeParle, President Barack Obama’s health policy czar, served as a director of corporations that faced scores of federal investigations, whistleblower lawsuits and other regulatory actions, according to government records reviewed by the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University.

Several of the companies were investigated for alleged kickbacks or engaging in other illegal billing schemes, while others were accused of serious violations of federal quality standards, including one company that failed to warn patients of deadly problems with an implanted heart defibrillator. Several of the cases ended with substantial fines paid to the federal government, even though the companies admitted no wrongdoing.

Since leaving her government job running Medicare for the Clinton administration, DeParle built a lucrative private-sector career. Records show she earned more than $6.6 million since early 2001, according to a tally by the Investigative Reporting Workshop.

Much of that corporate career was built at companies that have frequently had to defend themselves against federal investigations. After leaving government, DeParle accepted director positions at half a dozen companies suspected of violating the very laws and regulations she had enforced for Medicare. Those companies got into further trouble on her watch as a director.

Now she’s back in government as a leading voice in deciding the shape of health care reform. Named by Obama in March as director of the White House Office of Health Reform, making $158,000 a year, DeParle is the point person in pushing for the administration's plans for changing health care and the ways Americans pay for it — changes in which her former companies have a great deal at stake.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31566399/ns/health-health_care/

[amborin]

19. BUT---Protects GUN Rights!

<‘‘(c) PROTECTION OF SECOND AMENDMENT GUN RIGHTS.—

‘‘(1) WELLNESS AND PREVENTION PROGRAMS.—A wellness and health promotion activity implemented under subsection (a)(1)(D) may not require the disclosure or collection of any information relating to—

‘‘(A) the presence or storage of a lawfully-possessed firearm or ammunition in the residence or on the property of an individual; or
‘‘(B) the lawful use, possession, or storage of a firearm or ammunition by an individual.


from daily Kos

<http://www.dailykos.com/>

[IndianaGreen]

20. Good GAWD! They flush reproductive rights down the toilet, but don't worry, we keep our guns

What a POS of a bill!

[rd_kent]

28. At least they got SOMETHING right.

[Jamastiene]

38. Ain't that the truth.

That the only thing they got right.

[Dinger]

23. Guess Some Dems Don't Need Women's Votes

Great. See where that'll get ya.

[amborin]

26. More here:

"Mr. Reid’s amendment includes tighter restrictions on insurance coverage for abortions sought by Mr. Nelson. Health insurance plans would not be required or forbidden to cover abortions, but states could prohibit the coverage of abortions by plans that are offered for sale through new government-regulated marketplaces.

The amendment also includes a special extension solely for Nebraska: increased federal contributions to the cost of an expansion

The previous language about segregating private vs public funds within the exchanges is reportedly tougher on women. We’re still reading the details, but from what we’ve seen, this is the general framework:

So . . .

1. The Feds will require you to purchase insurance

2. Feds say this is fair because we’ve got these nifty exchanges that will magically transform the currently concentrated insurance markets and make them competitive, affordable .

3. Only these exchange plans will have any significant federal enforcement for even the weak insurance regulations and price oversight.

4. States may ban abortions for all plans in the exchange, so women are not only stripped of current rights but left completely unprotected.

My first reaction is that this vastly exceeds even the hideous Hyde prohibitions and can’t possibly be Constitutional, except in today’s Court."

<http://firedoglake.com/>

[girl_interrupted]

27. K&R

[ClarkUSA]

30. So what? I care more that Sens. Boxer & Sanders, SEIU's Andy Stern and Rep. Weiner support HCR.

They at least understand it takes more than whining and grandstanding to pass incredibly complex landmark HCR legislation.

[amborin]

31. you can be sure their arms were being twisted

[ClarkUSA]

33. Not at all, but I can be sure that's bullshit you're slinging right now.

[amborin]

34. How else would a dem vote for a bill that threatens abortion rights

[amborin]

35. Please Sign Emily's Petition NOW:

<http://action.stopstupak.com/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=385>

[depakid]

36. "would save the federal government $132 billion" -there's your reconciliation trigger

If only the so called leadership had the political fortitude to use it.

I guarantee if the shoe was on the other foot Republicans would-

[amborin]

39. and this is why rethugs are laughing at dems---for acting so powerless & conciliatory

[depakid]

40. I know. One has to wonder when (if ever) they'll have had enough of the humiliation