Posted on 08/09/2009 3:52:05 AM PDT by Man50D
Hundreds of people crowded into the BRIDGES building in Downtown Memphis on Saturday for a congressional town hall meeting that quickly deviated into a raucous shouting free-for-all, requiring extra law enforcement officers to watch over the scene.
The meeting, hosted by U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, was scheduled to address constituents' concerns about Social Security and veterans' benefits, but the real topic of the day was health care reform legislation being crafted by Congress.
Most people in the crowd of close to 500 were in loud opposition, although Cohen supporters held their own, waving signs that read "Health Care Now."
And as one heckler yelled, another shouted back, "Shut up! I want to hear my congressman. You shut your mouth!"
Within 15 minutes of the start of the event, a nearly nose-to-nose confrontation between individuals with opposing views became so heated they had to be separated as Shelby County sheriff's deputies and Memphis police officers called for reinforcements. No arrests were made.
With town hall meetings greeted with similar protests across the nation, Cohen was prepared.
"This is America, this is Memphis, Tennessee. Take two aspirin and come back in the morning," he yelled over out over the room.
Cohen invited area physicians to share their opinions on health care reform.
Dr. Neal Beckford was roundly booed when he said 50 million people were without health insurance.
However, he pointed out that as a society Americans need to decide what they want.
"And when we've decided what we want and how much it cost, we then need collectively to decide what we are willing to pay," he said.
Cardiologist Dr. James Klemis believes that ethically the poor must be taken care of. But this bill is being rushed and is too similar to Canada's and Britain's socialized medicine, he said.
"The problem is, government can't be the solution. It's got to be within the community," Klemis said.
Dr. Laura Bishop shared her disdain for insurance companies but is no fan of Washington's plan.
"Government getting involved in deciding what health care you are receiving is not the way to go," Bishop said.
Honesty, said Dr. Autry Parker, must be part of the conversation on health care reform.
"This issue will not be solved by people shouting, it will not be solved by people telling lies over and over again," Parker said. "Yes, I have read it and I do not agree with everything in it, but there is absolutely nothing in the bill that is going to euthanize grandma."
One of the signs waved by a plan opponent said "Don't tell my gigi how to die," referring to allegations that the bill would allow senior citizens to be euthanized, something the nonpartisan group FactCheck.org said is false. Cohen also denied that the bill would pay for abortions -- another claim made by opponents.
Roger Fakes, 70, said he sat quitely during most of the meeting, but Cohen's insistence that citizens would be able to keep their private health care drove him to his feet.
He argued that changes to private insurance would force citizens into the government plan.
"There are some of us old gray-haired folks that don't want the government involved in any of our business," he said.
The nearly all-white audience was not a snapshot of the mostly African-American 9th District that Cohen represents.
One of those who came from outside the district was Mark Mullis, 67, of Olive Branch, who was treated for cancer two years ago. He's afraid of what the plan will do to his insurance coverage, a combination of Medicare and retiree benefits.
"I know some people think a 25-year-old has a whole lot more to give. Maybe I've got seven or eight more years. To me all life is precious no matter what age," Mullis said.
Also from outside the district was bill supporter John Miles, 21, of Tupelo, Miss., who debated with opponents during the meeting.
"The purpose of this is to ask questions and receive answers. These people had all the answers," Miles said. "It's frustrating. It seemed that side in particular was doing a lot of yelling and screaming and booing. I just felt like yelling back."
Cohen is also proposing an amendment to the bill that would create a national pilot program on infant mortality, an issue of grave concern in Memphis, where infant-mortality rates are like those of a Third World country, he said.
Despite the boos, jeers and general disorder Saturday, Cohen said that after 33 years in public service he wasn't rattled.
"I expected it to be a lot worse," Cohen said.
That bears repeating...loudly...
Obamacare isn't about health care; it's all about gaining totalitarian domination of each of us through our health care needs.
Obamacare is a TAX on life
Now why is it that this usurper had a limo designed to take a hit that a tank could take, with a machine gun turret and an entourage of weaponry that would rival any convoy in Iraq. These criminals have plans and we are just beginning to see what they are capable of. Free elections forget it!!
It is my opinion that we had better get organized and prepared for the worst!
It's not about health care or the economy or the environment or women's rights or gay marriage or social justice or anything the rhetoric pretends it to be; it's about power and subjugation. And if you think the administration is ignoring the people on health care, just wait until we try to effectuate change at the ballot box; it will not be tolerated. This government is here to stay.
I wonder if a new “factcheck.org” could be put together...which really checks facts!
Pretty much covers ZerOcare, except for that come back in the morning thing.
Absolutely! Obama has demonstrated clearly that he has no compunction in using whatever totalitarian strategy he must to stay in power and to increase that power.
That is why the counter-revolution must begin now!
You understand their intent correctly. Not to actually murder just to kill by neglect.
Wait one second. How about deciding individually how much each one of us is willing to spend? If I decide that my health is worth more, I can buy better insurance or save more for future treatment. This starts with the presumption that medicine is a service that will (not even should) be distributed by the government.
"This issue will not be solved by people shouting,
Shouting is the only volume which the Congress will listen to. If the same opponents of medical nationalization went to the town halls, allowed the organizers to pick their usual prescreened questioners ask their usually supportive questions to the Democrat congressmen, and then went home quietly shaking their heads about the medical hell this country is headed towards, this bill would have been steamrollered through long ago. Only by shouting can we get them to notice and react. Also, it allows the wolf who thought he was alone in the world to howl and listen for the rest of the dispersed pack to howl in return to show how many are truly out there.
it will not be solved by people telling lies over and over again," Parker said. "Yes, I have read it and I do not agree with everything in it, but there is absolutely nothing in the bill that is going to euthanize grandma."
One of the signs waved by a plan opponent said "Don't tell my gigi how to die," referring to allegations that the bill would allow senior citizens to be euthanized, something the nonpartisan group FactCheck.org said is false. Cohen also denied that the bill would pay for abortions -- another claim made by opponents.
Euthanized? No, not on this version. This version is just to ration treatment. So you die six months into your two year waiting period for an angioplasty that used to be done the next day back in the good old days of semi-free market medicine. Or you get a type of cancer which researchers had been making progress on, but which was stopped when pharmaceutical companies are no longer allowed to sell drugs for more than the manufacturing cost of already known formulas plus a little profit. Or you get treatable macular degeneration in one eye and are told that you still have a good eye and that's good enough for government work (which is essentially what one patient under Britain's NHS was told).
Oh, also FactCheck.org is only non-partisan in that they support leftists no matter which party they belong to: Democrat, Socialist or Communist. Don't pretend that they are non-ideological.
Let me guess. All of these signs were professionally printed; and there was a great similarity among them.
ML/NJ
We must win on healthcare!
Agreed!
How you can take over one sixth of the economy and cutting it costs benefit the economy. They are asking that we cut the economy by back by 3% to cover more people and transfer funding from the productive to the counter-productive public sector. What DumbO fails to recognize is that government is the cause and not the cure.
Hannity had a caller that said that comparing the socialized health care of Britain and Canada was like comparing apples to oranges, because, we have a much better health care infrastructure. In typical Hannity fashion he failed to exploit the situation. Why is it that we have a better infrastructure, if we built it on free market principles and not central planed. Shouldn't the government plans have been better? You will not convince me that we will get better health care from Obumacare. Innovation will be stifled.
I think, that, "crap and tax" is as egregious as ZerOcare. I hope a victory over one will kill the other.
“The nearly all-white audience was not a snapshot of the mostly African-American 9th District that Cohen represents.”
And everybody knows that now that zero has been elected by this 12.5% of the population and the other 40% that either feel abused or guilty that all others now have no rights.
The opposition seems to mostly be people who work for what they now enjoy.
Maybe this... Truth or Fiction
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