Archive for the ‘Healthcare’ Category

WFRV reports…

“Beneath the chants of people rallying for health care reform in Green Bay, were the voices of protestors.Yet most of the 400-plus people at UW-Green Bay on Wednesday, told Congressman Steve Kagen he has their support.” Source: Kagen holds ‘less heated’ session at UWGB – WFRV Green Bay: Northeast Wisconsin News, Weather and Sports

Yet WBAY has a different take…

“Hundreds of people packed a UW-Green Bay building for what was supposed to be a pro-health care reform rally with Congressman Steve Kagen. But many came to voice disapproval of the legislation, and emotions ran high at a rally drawing cheers and boos.Groups of protesters lined up outside UWGB’s student union at least an hour before the health care rally even began.

The protests remained peaceful outside but set the stage for what became at times a heated debate inside.

More than 400 people packed the student union — so many that organizers had to expand the room to let everyone in.” Source: Health Care Reform Rally Turns Into Noisy Debate – WBAY-TV Green Bay-Fox Cities-Northeast Wisconsin News:

The fix is in — Jenna Sachs at WFRV wins today’s Engebretson Award for Excellence in Journalism…

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• NBC-26 launches ridiculous attack on character (brvanlanen.wordpress.com)

I shared with you earlier an email exchange between myself and NBC 26 reporter Kristoffer Engebretson (Kris Engebretson, the new Joe Friday of Green Bay: ‘Just the facts, ma’am’). I can’t believe this guy continues to try and debate this with me!

Here’s his latest installment in an increasingly more ludicrous conversation (note how he loses his professional cool and starts getting vindictive):

Do your research and check with the organizers, it is not a listening session or a debate, it is a rally. People on the left have been holding these same type of rallies. Your angle on this event is not a story.

If this was a listening session or a debate, it might be a story, but I still wouldn’t think it would qualify. There is nothing wrong with either side telling supporters to go out and show your support for any event. However, it was a story nationally, when the networks discovered information from groups telling supporters to disrupt the meetings.
That was a story.

And why don’t you ask Fox news why they cancelled their interview with you. I’m sure you would love that producers response.

Kristoffer Engebretson
NBC 26 Reporter

lol! I almost feel like a bully on the playground; this man is clearly not equipped to debate on any intellectual level. My response:

Kristoffer,

I am not a reporter, I am a private citizen. Researching stories is not my job, it’s yours; but we all know from your history of investigating that no research is required to back up your angle on a story; if a google search and a screen shot are evidence enough, the Organizing for America email should be as well. I have no angle on this event; all I have is what Organizing for America has told me in their email blast. Again (and this time I’ve highlighted the key terms enforcing my impression, since those points seem to be eluding your sharp journalistic instincts): ” He’ll be talking to constituents and gathering feedback on the need for reform. Whether you ask a question or show your support with a sign, attending this event is a powerful way to show where you stand and thank those in Congress who are fighting for reform.”

And, again, I agree with you that this is not a story, anymore than the story on me was. I just figured that if you were able to turn my story into a breathless expose, you’d have plenty of material to work with here.

Feel free to investigate the Fox news story; I’d love to see them cover this baby from beginning to end. I doubt you’d receive the same accolades from them that you received from Rachel Maddow. Please let us all know what you find out.

Heather Blish
Just a Mom From Down the Street

Let’s see if he can resist the temptation to further expose himself as the biased hack that he is.

Update: he couldn’t resist. Here’s Engebretson’s last (?) stand:

Again, feel free to contact the Fox News producer to find out why they cancelled their plans to put you on camera.

Kristoffer Engebretson
NBC 26 Reporter

My response?

That’s all you got left? Okay, I’m officially bored with this conversation.

May I suggest that instead of spending your morning engaging in a debate with a housewife about whether a story qualifies as a story, you may want to get out there and find out why Congressman Kagen’s office is still refusing to confirm that he will be at this event today, even though the email I received confirms that he will. Now that sounds like a story. Here, I’ll even throw you a bone: here’s some audio of Kagen completely dodging the question during an interview with a reporter on Monday: http://partyofknow.org/2009/08/24/answer-the-question-dude/

That’s a good start for you. Start investigating. Get some sunshine. It’s a beautiful day!

Read the comments under his video. Hendricks is getting butchered by the same ignorant leftist haters that amused themselves for two weeks by calling me every epithet in the English language and threatening me in ways I can’t even publish. Drown out the hate with support; leave a comment on the video and thank him for standing up to tyranny.

Check out the entertaining email exchange I had with Kristoffer Engebretson, who had the unmitigated gall to lecture me on journalism and what constitutes a story. Evidently, his idea of what constitutes the story has changed dramatically since he decided that an ex-Republican housewife expressing her thoughts at a “listening session” was the makings of a big expose on Republican plants.

Last night I received this email invitation from President Obama’s “Organizing for America” (a mailing list that I stunningly have not been removed from since I was recently outed as a Republican town hall plant):

Heather –

I wanted to send you an urgent invitation to an important health care event with Rep. Steve Kagen tomorrow, Wednesday, August 26th.

He’ll be talking to constituents and gathering feedback on the need for reform. Whether you ask a question or show your support with a sign, attending this event is a powerful way to show where you stand and thank those in Congress who are fighting for reform.

I hope you can join us. Here are the details:

What: Health Care Event with
Rep. Steve Kagen

Where: UW Green Bay – Phoenix Room
2420 Nicolet Drive
Green Bay, WI 54311

When: Wednesday, August 26th
Arrival Time: 5:00 p.m.
Start Time: 6:00 p.m.

RSVP

Please arrive as early as possible to the event, and make sure that the most powerful voices in this debate are those calling for real reform, not angrily clamoring for the status quo.

RSVP here:

http://wi.barackobama.com/GreenBayTH

Thanks,

Dan

Dan Grandone
Wisconsin State Director
Organizing for America

P.S. — Before the event, please print off a flyer to display and make sure that your support is visible.

Assuming Kristoffer Engebretson would find evidence of people being influenced to attend these events (the only question he had for me, and one he repeated 6 times in hopes that my answer in the negative would change), I forwarded him the email, adding “Here you go, Kristoffer. You’ve got your story; I’ll look forward to seeing how you expose all the plants at this event tomorrow…”

My sarcasm is obvious, which is why I was so surprised that he responded. His response, however, is even more surprising:

Heather,
It’s a rally for pro health care reform and pro public option. This is not a listening session. There will be no question and answer format. There will only be speakers.
The people who will be there (from both sides) will be voicing how they feel loud and clear. And I know people from both sides will be going, check out our story from today.

By the way, an email asking people to show their support is not a story. Emails like this on both sides of this issue have been going out since the begining of the debate. It’s a way of letting people know what’s going on.

But if you have any concrete evidence showing the liberals are paying people to come or are trying to sabotage the event, please let me know. That would be a story.

Kristoffer Engebretson
NBC 26 Reporter

I couldn’t resist straightening him out on the facts. Again. (Why do I keep finding myself in the position of having to teach this journalist the basics of journalism?):

Kristoffer,

Nowhere in the “Organizing for America” invitation does it say anything about a “rally”. What it does clearly state: “He’ll be talking to constituents and gathering feedback on the need for reform. Whether you ask a question or show your support with a sign, attending this event is a powerful way to show where you stand and thank those in Congress who are fighting for reform.” Sound like a listening session to me. What’s interesting to me is how you know that it is a rally, and that there will be no question and answer format. I’d also love to have you explain how the Congressman plans to gather feedback when “there will only be speakers.”

And don’t you dare lecture me on journalism and what qualifies as a story. You’re right, emails like this are not a story; they’re nothing more than American Democracy at work. An ex-Republican housewife designing websites out of her home and networking online with potential clients wasn’t a story either, but you used spit and duct tape to patch together one Google search performed by another news crew, one screen shot, a portion of a private conversation between myself and a member of that other news crew, and my response to a question that was never aired, and made it a story anyway.

Now I’m actually handing you proof of a situation where people are being “influenced” to go (you remember that question? After all, you asked me that 6 times), and now all of the sudden you’re telling me it’s not a story.

Stunning. But then, you’re not one to allow the facts to get in the way, are you?

Heather Blish
Just a Mom From Down the Street

I’ll let you know if he responds.

Update: he did, and it’s a hoot! Read the second installment here.

Hats off to Michelle Malkin for bringing this gem to our attention today:

Is this some Chicago phrase I don’t know about?

Is it just a nonsensical scatalogical reference?

Is this the teleprompter’s fault?

Maybe it’s some sort of SEIU code phrase?

Or is it a Hawaiian thing?

Can someone clue the unwashed masses in, please?

Via The Hill:

President Obama is betting on a more successful September than August, when it comes to his bid for healthcare reform.

At an online forum on healthcare held Thursday at the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Obama drew on his own political experience to predict better fortunes next month.

“There’s something about August going into September where everyone in Washington gets all ‘wee-weed’ up,” the president said.

Wha-what?

Frankly, Michelle, I’m relieved. Clearly, this explains the whole town hall uproar. Everybody’s just getting all wee-weed up over the healthcare bill (perhaps if the debate had happened in, say, mid-January, this whole misunderstanding would’ve just blown right over without all these messy protests). The good news is, it’ll all be over in September, just in time for football season (when the astroturf becomes astroweed, h/t Jerry Bader).

Thanks to Charlie Sykes and Rebecca Kleefisch for helping to further expose the lazy, irresponsible, agenda-driven “journalism” of Kristoffer Engebretson and NBC 26 WGBA.

“Our web reporter, Rebecca Kleefisch dissects a breathless television station’s “expose” of those townhall hooligans.” Source: KLEEFISCH: PIN THE BLAME ON THE “OPERATIVE” | Newsradio 620 – Milwaukee, Wisconsin News, Talk, Sports, Weather | Charlie Sykes

Read the full story of how one private citizen was nationally demonized after speaking out a town-hall meeting. We’re calling for a boycott of NBC 26 WGBA for allowing this kind of tabloid journalism. Join our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#/pages/Boycott-NBC26-in-Green-Bay/116519111023?ref=ts

Check out this fascinating lecture from the Heritage Foundation website:

“Recently, The Heritage Foundation, in conjunction with the Centre for the New Europe (CNE), a prominent European public policy institution based in Brussels, Belgium, held an international conference in Washington on precisely what Americans can learn from the European experience in health care and pension policy. With the kind assistance of Hardy Bouillon, President of the Centre, the presentations at the Heritage-CNE forum offer American policy experts a keen idea of:

* What works and doesn’t work in practice,
* What steps are being taken to improve European health care systems, and
* What key lessons the European experience holds for Congress, state legislators, and the American people with respect to the reform of public health care programs.

The advice comes from an impressive array of European health care policy experts: Philippe Manière of France, David Green of Great Britain, Paul Belien of Belgium, Johan Hjertqvist of Sweden, and Friedrich Breyer of Germany.”

They continue:

“Americans will probably be surprised to learn from the remarks that follow that Switzerland’s health care system relies almost entirely on a system of private insurance. They might be surprised to learn that there is a growing reliance on the private sector in the financing and delivery of health care in Europe, particularly in the Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden. Even the Labor government in Britain has entered into an agreement with representatives of the private health care industry to improve health care delivery in certain vital areas.

Reforms in Europe, where they are diligently pursued, have taken on a certain urgency. A major factor affecting recent health care policy making in Europe, including privatization efforts, is the rapid aging of the European population. Continental Europe is comprised largely of countries that have rapidly aging populations. Although life expectancy has increased, fertility rates have decreased, and much of Europe faces demographic stagnation. This unfavorable ratio of old to young persons is far worse in major European nations than in either Canada or the United States.

The unfavorable shift in the demographic balance is particularly rapid in France and Germany, and will impose tremendous financial pressures on their existing health care-social security arrangements. America’s Medicare and Social Security reformers should take note.”

But it gets even better:

“For Members of Congress and state legislators, there are some valuable lessons from the European experience that should be less surprising.

* If you insist on government management of the health care system, do not expect freedom from waste, inefficiency, or inequity in the delivery of care (look at France).
* If you want to promise citizens a national or state program of universal insurance coverage, don’t expect that you will be able to deliver universal access to high-quality health care. You won’t and you can’t (look at Britain).
* If you want to fix prices for medical services, prescription drugs, or other medical devices, don’t expect demand for these goods and services to be met or investment in research and development to continue apace. It won’t (look anywhere).
* If you insist, with a straight face, that in a government-run health care system, all of your fellow citizens will be treated equally–regardless of their class, station in life, or disease condition–you are not merely enthusiastic or well intentioned. You are lying. ” Source: Perspectives on the European Health Care Systems: Some Lessons for America

The kicker? This conference took place in 2001! 8 years ago, the European governments were already beginning to backpedal on their socialized medicine systems. While they move back towards privatization, why is our government running full tilt into a the same system that is failing all over Europe?