Townshirt Disruptive Tactics Come To L.A. Health Care Forums

My Congresswoman, Diane Watson (D-CA), held a town hall forum in the district last night. I didn't even know about it, which is odd since I tend to pay attention to these kinds of things. Fortunately a friend did go and he told me it was a peaceful affair, with around 400 people at the AME Church in West Adams, overwhelmingly people who support health care reform. There were a few teabaggers, two of whom came in costumes-- one as Dracula and one as hideous and bloated version of Ted Kennedy. It's almost as though the two idiots were begging to be assaulted so they could go running to Fox. They sat scowling at the audience, taking photos. Congresswoman Watson was one of the first members of Congress to sign the letter to Speaker Pelosi saying she would not vote for any health care legislation that didn't include-- at least-- a public option. She's one of the 65 members of the House that Blue America has been collecting thank you contributions for. If you'd like to take a look at our campaign, or add to it, here's the link.

Meanwhile, in another part of L.A. County there was a health care town hall hosted by the Peace and Justice Committee of the Religious Society of Friends and the Claremont Democratic Club in Claremont. The area's congressmember-- David Dreier, an absentee congressman in the best of times-- predictably refused invitations to come. He runs his family's real estate development business near Kansas City and lives there when he isn't in Washington. But without Dreier, citizens of Claremont gathered for a respectful give and take about the health care debate. At least that was the intention. Teabagging rightists immediately attempted to unfurl their agenda of disruption.

The crowd was large and enthusiastic and spilled out the door of the 150 seat auditorium, many attendees straining to listen from an outdoor patio. A determined heckler, Charles Cox from an extremist group calling itself Survivors of Abortion Holocaust, was removed from the auditorium by the crowd when he shouted "Unamerican" at a panelist who was advocating for a single payer system. The heckler, who is from Riverside, muscled his way back into the forum, was disruptive again and was removed again. He the went around to a side door and was blocked from entering. When he continued to shout out "this meeting is breaking the law." Organizers were forced to shut the door leaving many people out of the town hall. The heckler's female friend, who was inside, then opened the door and he attempted to enter. One of the organizers was forced to push the heckler back, and the heckler fell to the ground loudly claiming assault-- a now all to familiar right wing self-victimization strategy-- and made a plea for the cavalry to come. While on the phone with paramedics, this disruptive outsider had to ask "What city are we in?"

Funny thing-- he refused care when the paramedics rolled a stretcher up to the door and was overheard talking about a preexisting condition. Word is, he is pressing assault charges against the volunteer who was trying to keep the peace. No doubt, he'll soon be peddling his tale of martyrdom on Glenn Beck's or Bill O'Reilly's anti-health care circus. Here, it goes to show, this is such a hot button issue, it can even get blood boiling in pacifist Claremont.

When the forum finally got back on track after the disruption many people had the chance to get up on their soap boxes and make pleas for everything from tort reform to maintaining the status quo. Russ Warner, the progressive Democrat who is running for Congress-- and has been endorsed by DWT received a huge round of applause when he acknowledged how passionate people are about the issue and how important it is to be part of the live town hall forum. "I will never hide behind the telephone."

An owner of a local small business in the district himself, Warner has been a backer of health care reform for a very long time. He's been pointing out to voters in CA-26 how the bill Congress is crafting now would bring enormous benefits to the local area, particularly to seniors and to over 13,000 small businesses in the district. Over 1,300 families in the district wouldn't have to face the trauma of health care related bankruptcy if the bill passes. Dreier isn't supporting health care reform-- he's picked up a cool $287,642 from the Insurance Business and another hefty $602,339 from the Medical-Industrial Complex-- but Warner is, and he's paying very close attention to the bills in Congress. Yesterday the Energy and Commerce Committee released a study about how their bill would impact CA-26.

• Help for small businesses. Under the legislation, small businesses with 25 employees or less and average wages of less than $40,000 qualify for tax credits of up to 50% of the costs of providing health insurance. There are up to 13,200 small businesses in the district that could qualify for these credits.

• Help for seniors with drug costs in the Part D donut hole. Each year, 11,200 seniors in the district hit the donut hole and are forced to pay their full drug costs, despite having Part D drug coverage. The legislation would provide them with immediate relief, cutting brand name drug costs in the donut hole by 50%, and ultimately eliminate the donut hole.

• Health care and financial security. There were 1,300 health care-related bankruptcies in the district in 2008, caused primarily by the health care costs not covered by insurance. The bill provides health insurance for almost every American and caps annual out-of-pocket costs at $10,000 per year, ensuring that no citizen will have to face financial ruin because of high health care costs.

• Relieving the burden of uncompensated care for hospitals and health care providers. In 2008, health care providers in the district provided $35 million worth of uncompensated care, care that was provided to individuals who lacked insurance coverage and were unable to pay their bills. Under the legislation, these costs of uncompensated care would be virtually eliminated.

• Coverage of the uninsured. There are 92,000 uninsured individuals in the district, 13% of the district. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that nationwide, 97% of all Americans will have insurance coverage when the bill takes effect. If this benchmark is reached in the district, 71,000 people who currently do not have health insurance will receive coverage.

• No deficit spending. The cost of health care reform under the legislation is fully paid for: half through making the Medicare and Medicaid program more efficient and half through a surtax on the income of the wealthiest individuals. This surtax would affect only 6,750 households in the district. The surtax would not affect 97.8% of taxpayers in the district.

The concerted astro-turfing of the health care debate is very well-documented and the Republican Party success at diverting the debate from health care reform to unfocused hatred, fears, anger, racism and generalized divisiveness has disqualified them from being taken seriously as participants.

I don't have video of either of last night's Los Angeles County town hall meetings but I'd like to share a clip from two earlier health care debates (1971 and 1974) that will probably sound awfully familiar to anyone who's been paying attention this year. First, please check how Miss McConnell (R-KY), who has received $943,507 in thinly disguised bribes from the Insurance Industry and another startling $2,770,168 from the Medical-Industrial Complex, is approaching the health care debate. Playing strictly by the Insurance Industry's playbook, he contends that everything's pretty hunky-dory-- which it is... if you're a millionaire or a member of Congress (he's both) with no worries about health care.