Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Arkansas Politics The Tea Party's new poison: health care reform
Posted by Max Brantley on Tue, Mar 8, 2011 at 12:32 PM
Rep. Ed Garner has put off plans to seek Senate committee approval Wednesday of his tax break for rich people. The drum-beating from Koch brother lobbyists indicates the new priority is Sen. Missy Irvin's bill to hamstring federal health care reform. Shades of interposition, it asserts that the federal government can't direct state officials to administer a federal program. (I presume the language is lifted whole from a Republican/Koch think tank somewhere.) It says a state agency must be legislatively authorized to do anything. Even if authority exists, the bill imposes a whole range of requirements, including cost estimates, for each specific program.
This is what the 'baggers would otherwise call an unfunded mandate. Irvin would waste a significant amount of state time and money, all in the name of standing in the way of delivery of more health care to more Arkansans.
She might have the votes in the Senate. The House? It might face a tougher committee there.
That same committee may get a crack at another dangerous piece of Irvin legislation. She opposes a woman's right to choose an abortion and is doing all she can to make the practice unobtainable in Arkansas. One is legislation aimed at ending drug-induced abortions here. She cloaks this anti-abortion bill in concern about the side effects of the drug used (is there a drug that doesn't have potential side effects and isn't always accompanied by sufficient patient and physician consideration, from antibiotics to Viagra?). But by piling burdensome requirements on physicians and clinics — along with numerous reporting requirements — she's intending to stop the prescription of this drug in Arkansas. She evinces no similar concern for inspections, reporting, hospital admitting privileges and all the rest for all the other drugs out there. Or maybe her legislation should include the recent British medical recommendation that women be counseled that abortion is safer than childbirth.
Speaking of...
-
Common Cause asks state probes of ALEC
May 11, 2012With the American Legislative Exchange Council currently meeting in Charlotte with legislative stooges on plotting new corporate-agenda state legislation, Common Cause has called on state attorney generals to investigate ALEC for its compliance with tax and lobbying laws. /more/
-
Hypocrite watch: Sen. Missy Irvin on child abuse
April 26, 2012We clip and paste, you decide: * CUTS IN CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION PROGRAMS: In a report on these, comes the following: State Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, chairman of the Senate Interim Committee on Children and Youth, said she supports the decision to cut preventative programs to keep caseworkers on the job. /more/
-
We're over the hump
April 18, 2012Gov. Mike Beebe is back. Dan Rather was right on George W. Bush's military records. An Oklahoma legislator fights back against anti-abortion Republicans with an anti-masturbation bill (video). /more/
-
Arkansas lands on Top 10 list. Subject is ladyparts
April 18, 2012The Jezebel website has compiled a Top 10 list on which Arkansans shouldn't be happy to appear, though elements of the ranking enjoy support, particularly among Republicans. /more/
-
More unflattering attention for ALEC
April 17, 2012The American Legislative Exchange Council is at last getting some of the unflattering attention it deserves. /more/
-
Translating the Republican plan for Arkansas
April 5, 2012The Arkanas House Republican Caucus rolled out its "SIMPLE" plan to fix Arkansas today. You can read all the details here, but I've explained them before. /more/
-
Reporter finds hope for health care in Supreme Court arguments
April 5, 2012Linda Greenhouse, the esteemed former Supreme Court reporter for the New York Times, continues to blog on legal matters for the newspaper and today offers a case that the partisan Supreme Court majority didn't necessarily demonstrate a reflexive anti-Obama stance in its questioning of attorneys during oral arguments on the health care reform law. /more/
-
Justices go after insurance mandate
March 27, 2012If the morning's tough questioning is any indication, it looks like the U.S. Supreme Court may kill the insurance mandate. /more/
-
The Republican war on women advances
March 13, 2012Bad as things might seem, we're not at Arizona's level yet. Here's some news on the sex warrior front in the West. /more/
-
Researchers: Obamacare is holding down health costs
March 12, 2012This is one the Republican war room won't be retweeting. From Talking Points Memo: In a development with potentially profound implications — both for Medicare itself and for the broader ideological fight between the two parties over the role of government — researchers writing in the New England Journal of Medicine believe that the growth in per patient Medicare costs has slowed, contra earlier projections that spending would soar at an unsustainable rate. /more/
- More »
Comments (4)
Showing 1-4 of 4
::sigh:: To think, they could be passing bills to raise the minimum wage, increase the amount of money for higher education, etc. but no...let's focus on crap like this.
If you don't like abortion, let's work on reducing unwanted and unplanned pregnancy. Shouldn't they be filing a bill to make health insurance companies cover birth control pills, IUDS, etc.? I mean if we can get insurance companies to pay for Viagra, surely the ladies can get contraception covered.
I long for the day when a legislative session will be productive and not full of bills that just win the legislator a little bit of pull with a small group of people.
I think most Arkansans would be supportive of a bill to raise the minimum wage and a bill that would make insurance companies cover birth control pills, IUDs, etc.....that's just me though.
like
dislike
I don't need a bunch of Arkansas legislatirs trying to shove "their brand" of Christianity down my throat. My first thought on those 5 dwarfs at the Iowa religious conference yesterday was that we were going to elect a chief theologican, not a president.
Do what you want in your family but keep my family out of it. It is not your business what happens in someone else's family and I certainly don't need a bunch of pseudo-christians (small "C" intended) trying to run the world.
Remind her that this country was founded to get away from religious nuts who tried to shove their religion down other people's throats.
Churches are tax exempt for a reason. They're not asked to pay taxes so they keep their opinions in their churches and among their respective congregations and OUT of government at any level. They are simply incapable of seeing the bigger picture beyond their own interpretation of the Bible. This is why church and state are separated. We have only to look to England to see how screwed up a country can become when the church is left in charge for far too long. After all, the Church of England is why we're in this part of the world, right?
Now, if the churches want a say, then let's remove the tax exemptions. All of them. That could solve a lot of financial issues in this country if we just tax the churches to the max. They can apparently afford it. And maybe we'd see fewer monstrosities like Fort God in West Little Rock, that embarrassment of riches on the hill thumbing it's nose to the poor and needy.
If you want a say, you gotta pay. That should be our mantra.
Someone mentioned to me that Rep. Garner attends one of the top three liberal Methodist churches. I've been to this church. I've heard their sermons. And all I can think about is what is Rep. Garner hearing that I'm not hearing, or vice-versa. And its not a knock on his religion or his Christianity, just a sense of a disconnect. I wonder if the pastor reads the paper about these bills and thinks that he/she is not really doing a good job preaching on that whole least of my people idea.
More by Author
-
A clinic is not a homeless shelter
- Mar 15, 2012
-
Razorback Coach Petrino fired for lying and relationship with staffer
Razorback football coach Bobby Petrino has been fired for not disclosing his personal relationship with a woman he hired and paid under the table with university money and for lying about circumstances of his motorcycle accident.
- Apr 10, 2012
- More »
Event Calendar
-
Re: Riverfest eve open line UPDATE
I have to disagree with you Durango. They weren't pathetic papers. They were quintessential local…
- on May 24, 2012
-
Re: Surgeon general strikes deal on disturbance charges
“Conviction or no conviction, Thompson has paid a heavy price in publicity alone.”
Undeniably…- on May 24, 2012
-
Re: Riverfest eve open line UPDATE
“Since the merger . . . subscribers have received The Morning News and the Northwest…
- on May 24, 2012
Top Commenters
Blogroll
Slideshows
-
Police close the Occupy Little Rock camp, perhaps the last Occupy encampment on public land.
Site Index
News
Cover Story / Arkansas Reporter / The Week That Was / Smart Talk / The Insider / The Observer / Editorial / Max Brantley / Ernest Dumas / Gene Lyons / Bob Lancaster / Words / Guest Writer / Letters
Entertainment
A&E Feature / To-Do List / In Brief / Movie Reviews / Music Reviews / Theater Reviews / A&E News / Art Notes / Graham Gordy / Books / Media / Dining Reviews / Dining Guide / What's Cookin' / Calendar / The Televisionist / Movie Listings / Gallery Listings
This Week's Cover
Quick Links
Special Publications
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
