Sharrontology's War on Breast Cancer Survivors

Yet again, Sharron Angle brings on the full CRAZEE!!! No wonder why "Birther Queen" Orly Taitz is jumping in to help Sharrrrrrrrron!

There are some political endorsements that Senate candidates dream of getting. There are others they'd rather do without. Having the lead skeptic of President Obama's country of birth support your campaign probably falls into the latter category.

On Wednesday, without much public recognition, Orly Taitz threw her support behind Sharron Angle, posting a plea for readers to donate to the Nevada Republican Senate candidate on her website. The birther queen (as she's known) even urged people to head to Vegas on a late-October bus trip to help with the Senate election.

The Angle campaign, as spokesperson Jarrod Agen told the Huffington Post, neither sought nor asked for the help.

The "#1 Race in America," Taitz wrote on her website, is "Angle versus Reid! Retire Harry Reid, support Sharron Angle."

I know... Crazy! But you know what's just as crazy? This...



What? You didn't think I'd get back to health care policy? Well... HA!

But really, this is pure insanity. When she talks about "getting rid of mandates", she means this:

So yet again, Sharrontology Obtuse Angle wants the insurance companies to decide for us "what we need" and what "we don't even really need".

Treatment to help kids with autism become independent adults? Nope, that's something "we don't even really need".

Screenings to detect colon cancer? Nope, that's something "we don't even really need".

Screenings to detect breast cancer? Nope, that's something "we don't even really need".

Making sure pregnant women have health care? Nope, that's something "we don't even really need".

See a pattern here? Again, preventive care works and preventive care saves lives and preventive care costs less! But because Angle is so short-sighted and so much more concerned about insurance company profits than saving real people's lives, she'd rather just deny us that much needed preventive care simply because she and her "Tea Party, Inc." buddies think they're just "things we don't even really need".

And if you don't believe me, listen to Maven.

Watch this ad - and then tell me, if you are an Angle supporter - how you can support this position? Explain to me - an eight year survivor of Stage III breast cancer - just what I should have done without insurance to pay the bills for my cancer treatment?

The bills came to over $150,000 just for the medical treatments alone. That doesn’t include the follow-up care as a survivor over the last eight years, the additional surgeries I needed on my radical mastectomy site, or the travel expenses to go back and forth for treatment. That has probably amounted to another $100,000.

That’s right. Nearly $250,000.

That was eight years ago. It would no doubt cost more today. How many of you could afford that without insurance? Please tell me.

Have you lost anybody to cancer? Next month is Breast Cancer Awareness month - so while you’re out at the Komen and other events, walking for breast cancer research, ask the attendees if they think Sharron Angle’s bizarre position is alright with them.

This woman is the poster child for outrageous, dangerous speech.

Sharron Angle also doesn’t give a good goddamn about women, cancer patients, or anybody other than herself.

She survived breast cancer. And she probably knows much more about what she needs that Sharron Angle for some HMO.

What Angle is really advocating here is enriching the insurance companies even more by allowing them to cut back on coverage, even such basic essentials as cancer screenings, and offering "basic plans" like those bargain basement car insurance plans in California that don't really cover anything. It's "insurance for the sake of insurance", which means more padding of HMO profits while patients can't get basic preventive care, like cancer screenings, unless they pay exorbitantly more in premiums.

Mammograms save lives. Colon cancer screenings save lives. Preventive care saves lives. And Sharron Angle cares more about giving insurance companies maximum opportunity to profit off it than patients' ability to access it. She's essentially putting their profits ahead of our lives.

And yet again, she proves why she's unfit to serve in The US Senate.

Autistic Kids & Their Loved Ones Take On Sharrontology's Cruelty

All of a sudden, Sharron Angle's campaign is shocked, just SHOCKED!, that real Nevada families are horrified by her dismissal of "autism".

Doctors, nurses, and parents of autistic children are demanding an apology from Sharron Angle after some comments the Tea Party candidate for U.S. Senate made about autism. [...]

The group that gathered at a local obgyn's office on Thursday was reacting to a video posted on You-Tube of a Tea Party speech Angle made a year ago.

Angle spoke against mandated health care, and appeared to focus on coverage for autism and pregnant women. Some parents in the group that met Thursday were offended by her comments. Others said they felt Angle didn't have enough information.

Jan Crandy is among a group of advocates who helped create a Nevada law mandating health care coverage for the treatment of Autism. She said, "I want anybody running for office to really be educated about the issues. To take the time to be educated on the issues before you make comments to know, that by covering autism today, they're saving billions of dollars in the future."

And they had nothing but typical canned attacks when they were asked to respond to these real families speaking out...



And this uncovering of what Angle is really saying when she talks about "things we don't even really need"...



And this revelation of what Angle is really slandering...



So what was she really bashing? These fine folks in Reno put a face on it.

Parents of children with autism are fighting mad at comments made by Senate candidate Sharron Angle. The parents met at a round table discussion called by Assem. David Bobzien, (D) District 24, Wednesday morning in Reno.

Bobzien was among numerous state lawmakers who sponsored Assembly Bill 162 at last year's session, which provides for insurance coverage for expensive-- but effective-- autism treatments.

At a 2009 Tea Party Express rally in Winnemucca, Angle told the crowd that high insurance rates can be blamed in part on coverage for autism treatment and maternity leave.

"Everything they want to throw at us is covered under 'autism'," Angle said, making quotation marks around the word 'autism' with her fingers. "How about maternity leave? I'm not going to have any more babies, but I sure get to pay for it on my insurance. Those are the kinds of things we want to get rid of."

"I was frankly really taken aback by the comments she made," said Bobzien. "This was a piece of legislation supported by almost every member of both the Assembly and the Senate." He said he is afraid that if Angle is elected, AB 162 will be repealed, leaving parents without the ability to pay for necessary treatments.

"I am outraged by Sharron Angle and the comments she has made," said Herah Osborne, whose 7-year-old twins have been diagnosed with autism. "[And] the fact that she didn't educate herself about Assembly Bill 162."

Several parents who attended the meeting took a copy of the 2008 report on autism, compiled by the Autism Coalition of Nevada, to Angle's Reno office.

And all of a sudden, Sharrontology is miffed that these autistic kids and their families are fighting back.

Sharron Angle's offensive and damaging remarks about autism concern us all. By claiming that individuals and families "falsely label other symptoms as autism" in order to take advantage of insurance mandates, she damages the effort for full inclusion and civil rights of Autistic Americans, both young and old. We call on her to apologize for the insensitivity of her remarks and for the failure to recognize the legitimate health care needs of both the autism and maternity communities.

And in case you had forgotten what Sharrontology said, here's a reminder.



And here's what it means. It means Sharrontology doesn't think the insurance companies have to cover autism care... Or for that matter, care for pregnant women or cancer screenings or any kind of health care that the insurance industry would rather not cover. After all, she feels it's more important that they pad their profits than we get the care we need. She thinks it's more important that her big money "Tea Party, Inc." California consultant patrons score political points than any of us get the care we need.

After all, who are these kids to her? Apparently, just quotation marks.

What's health care policy to her? Apparently, just something to twist and distort and lie about to try to win higher office.

Who are we to her? Apparently, what's holding her back from taking her extremist agenda to Washington.

But don't forget, we can stop her and her extreme agenda. Just as these brave families are fighting back, so can we! It's bad enough that all the autistic kids and their families here in Nevada have been under attack like this thanks to Sharron Angle and her teabagger extremist pals. We don't have to subject them to any more of this garbage, and we certainly don't have to give her a national platform to cause even more pain and suffering!

Another Republican Denouncing Sharrontology

My my, Sharron Angle keeps losing friends in her own party with her wacko extremism.

The chairwoman of the Nevada Republican Hispanic Caucus, who moonlights as a spokeswoman for Sharron Angle, this week denounced the Republican U.S. Senate candidate's ad on immigration.

Tibi Ellis on Monday told 1060 AM Spanish radio host Edwin Saldarriaga that she doesn't agree with Angle's depiction of illegal immigrants in a campaign ad released earlier this month.

"I condemned this type of propaganda, no matter who is running them, where they blame Mexicans as the only problem and where they attack them as the only source of illegal immigration," Ellis told Saldarriaga. "I don't agree with that."

Ellis stressed to Saldarriaga that she was not representing Angle during the interview. Ellis, however, has served as a spokeswoman for Angle, according to an interview she gave to Texas GOP Vote, in which she recounted a campaign trip she took with Angle to Denton, Texas.

Oh, come on. What could possibly be the problem?



Oh, wow.



Ay caramba! So yet again, Sharrontology lied... And now, even people in her own party don't want to be associated with her lies and her scapegoating and her thinly veiled xenophobia.

So she lied about Harry Reid's record and yelled about brown people being "TEH SCAREEE!!!", and she expected to get away with it? Nope. I guess she keeps having to find out the hard way that her lies always catch up with her.

Sharrontology vs. Reality

Oh, my. Look at the storm Sharron Angle has brewed!

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network and the National Nurses United Nevada announced this afternoon that they're holding a press conference tomorrow, along with autistic adults and pregnant women, at the office of a Las Vegas OB-GYN at 10:30 a.m. Mountain time to demand that Angle apologize.

Of course, Sharrontology keeps denying what she said. Apparently, she wants us to ignore this video.



And apparently, she wants us to ignore everything she says that she doesn't want us to hear.

I am beginning to wonder about this seemingly pathological habit Angle has of saying she never said something when it is on tape and so easily retrieved. Does she really not remember, or does she think this is a "Mission Impossible" world where all tapes self-destruct after five seconds?

Maybe that explains why she keeps running to hide in her underground bunker.

Health Care: Sharron Angle & Joe Heck Just Don't Get It

Yesterday, I attended the health care reform forum just up the street from my house in Henderson. Reps. Dina Titus (D-Henderson) and Shelley Berkley (D-Las Vegas) were there to discuss why they voted for health care reform, and two local constituents shared their compelling personal stories that made me realize why we had to get the ball rolling on this.

Las Vegas resident Jeff Walters said during the event that he supported the federal health care overhaul. He said his son, 4-year-old Preston, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma and was treated at a Tucson hospital, where he received a stem cell transplant.

Because his insurance only covered $100,000 of the transplant costs, he said his family had to come up with $20,000. The $100,000 cap is a lifetime cap, Walters said, which means any other transplant would be paid out-of-pocket.

“There’s a high chance of relapse,” said Paula Walters, while holding her son.

Neuroblastoma can be a very frightening nerve cancer for young ones. And even with treatment, it can still reoccur. $100,000 may seem like "a lot of money", but when it comes to treating cancer, it may not be enough... Especially if it ever reoccurs.



Under the new Affordable Care Act, insurance companies can no longer set lifetime coverage caps. Annual coverage limits are also starting to be phased out. Hopefully, this means we won't have to hear more stories like the Walters'.







And we won't have to hear more stories like the Kosters'...

Preston is doing fine today, and even attended the forum. But that wasn’t the case for Kelly Kosters‘s sister, [Christy]. [Christy Annett] beat leukemia more than a decade ago, only to have a re-lapse and see her new insurance company refuse to cover her, claiming she’d lied on her application. She struggled to get care, only to see a bone marrow transplant performed at the City of Hope facility fail. A final blow: The decision by UMC managers to close the outpatient cancer treatment center at the valley’s only public hospital.

[Christy Annett] died in January 2009, just shy of her 31st birthday.

Christy Annett had already run past her lifetime limit with her previous insurer. And even though she told about her past leukemia bout and the insurance company didn't raise a stink then, they later denied her coverage when she relapsed and the leukemia came back. That led to the desperate search for someone, anyone, who could help, then the failed City of Hope bone marrow transplant, then being shut out of everywhere but UMC, then that final blow of UMC shutting down its outpatient cancer treatment center due to budget cuts. (And we'll talk about that issue later!)

Kelly Kosters' sister died, and the insurance industry yet again had blood on its hands.

And she's not alone.





And there are many more stories like theirs throughout Nevada and across America. That's why the Affordable Care Act was passed, to allow for third party appeals, so that the same insurance company bureaucrats can't keep denying people the care they need. Of course, there's far more in the Affordable Care Act that's now going into effect that helps consumers.

Here's Dina Titus explaining it (back in March):



And in case you want it in writing, here's the rundown of what we're starting to see.

Adult children may remain as dependents on their parents’ policy until their 27th birthday

Children under age 19 may not be excluded for pre-existing conditions

No more lifetime or annual caps on coverage

Free preventative care for all

Adults with pre-existing conditions may buy into a national high-risk pool until the exchanges come online.

While these will not be cheap, they’re still better than total exclusion and get some benefit from a wider pool of insureds.

Small businesses will be entitled to a tax credit for 2009 and 2010, which could be as much as 50% of what they pay for employees’ health insurance.

The “donut hole” closes for Medicare patients, making prescription medications more affordable for seniors.

Requirement that all insurers must post their balance sheets on the Internet and fully disclose administrative costs, executive compensation packages, and benefit payments.

Authorizes early funding of community health centers in all 50 states (Bernie Sanders’ amendment). Community health centers provide primary, dental and vision services to people in the community, based on a sliding scale for payment according to ability to pay.

AND no more rescissions. Effective immediately, you can't lose your insurance because you get sick.

However, the Republicans running for Congress here in Nevada are promising to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And not just that, they want to coddle the insurance industry even more than they had been before health care reform passed!

After all, Sharron Angle considers all of us "special interests"!

And one of the problems is unfunded, well they are unfunded, but these mandates on insurance companies to provide coverage for things that people don’t even really need! And what we need to do is get rid of those mandates, let you provide a comprehensive coverage that takes care of what people need and allows them to buy them the things that they have to have, not things that are mandated by the government. A similar policy, as the things that people write for car insurance, and life insurance, you know you write something that fits the need of a person rather than fitting what the government has done for some politically correct special interest and that’s how we got those mandates.” [emphasis mine]

Oh yes, that's right. She called me a "special interest". She called you a "special interest". She called pregnant women "special interests". She called cancer survivors "special interests". And of course, she (again!) called autistic kids "special interests".

Angle: Insurance mandates are product of government bowing to “politically correct special interest” [...]

Such as Big Autism or Big Colonoscopies or Big Pregnant Women, perhaps?

That last one may be politically incorrect, but it is political correctness Angle cited last month in a speech to the Association of Health Underwriters on August 10 in explaining her opposition to mandates on insurance companies.

Recent revelations about Angle's disdain for mandates -- her vote against including colon cancer screenings and her deriding autism coverage -- reflect a consistent belief that government should not tell insurance companies what they have to cover. I suppose, on the day that HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is here promoting health care reform, that opposition would include mandating insurers not boot folks for having pre-existing conditions.

After all, how could we ever forget this?



Or this!



Or this!



Joe Heck, the teabagger darling running against Dina Titus, was all too often the insurance industry's best friend in the legislature. Just like Angle, he often opposed requiring insurance companies to cover such basic preventive care as prostate cancer screenings and vaccination to prevent HPV and cervical cancer!

Because their big corporate buddies at "Tea Party, Inc." are supporting them, Angle and Heck do as they're told... Including denying much needed health care to Nevada's working families if the "Tea Party, Inc." powers that be think it's "too much".

We've talked before about Joe Heck's uncanny resemblance to Sharron Angle...



But in case anyone was still wondering just how alike their views are and just how dangerous their teabagger approved agenda is, this confirms it. Neither cares one bit about the many benefits Nevadans will see from health care reform, and both have no problem picking big corporate profits over what's best for us. And neither one gets it.

But you know who does? Dina Titus does. She held numerous town halls throughout the district last year. She listened to us the constituents and what we needed out of health care reform. And despite the corporate lobby spending $1.3 million to intimidate her, she did the right thing and made sure reform worked for Nevadans.

And of course, health care reform wouldn't have happened if it weren't for Harry Reid making it happen in Congress! And of course, he made it happen so that more Nevadans can access quality, affordable care.







Unlike Angle getting her marching orders from some big money California Republican consultants, Reid takes his queues from real Nevadans.



That's why he and Dina Titus get it.

Sharrontology Calls Autistic Kids, Cancer Survivors "Special Interests"

Oh, jeez. Sharron Angle is really digging herself a nice, big, gaping hole with this.

“We know that if we could have that affordability across state lines, you’re not, you’re not afraid of competition I know you’re not, you would in fact invite it. I have friends in other states that say “you know I’d like to come to Nevada, but you have problems there in Nevada. And one of the problems is unfunded, well they are unfunded, but these mandates on insurance companies to provide coverage for things that people don’t even really need! And what we need to do is get rid of those mandates, let you provide a comprehensive coverage that takes care of what people need and allows them to buy them the things that they have to have, not things that are mandated by the government. A similar policy, as the things that people write for car insurance, and life insurance, you know you write something that fits the need of a person rather than fitting what the government has done for some politically correct special interest and that’s how we got those mandates.” [emphasis mine]

And Ralston has the audio!

So yet again, Sharrontology Obtuse Angle wants the insurance companies to decide for us "what we need" and what "we don't even really need".

Treatment to help kids with autism become independent adults? Nope, that's something "we don't even really need".

Screenings to detect colon cancer? Nope, that's something "we don't even really need".

Screenings to detect breast cancer? Nope, that's something "we don't even really need".

Making sure pregnant women have health care? Nope, that's something "we don't even really need".

See a pattern here? Again, preventive care works and preventive care saves lives and preventive care costs less! But because Angle is so short-sighted and so much more concerned about insurance company profits than saving real people's lives, she'd rather just deny us that much needed preventive care simply because she and her "Tea Party, Inc." buddies think they're just "things we don't even really need".

Hey, Mrs. Angle. Perhaps your callousness, your heartlessness, your cruelty, your lack of knowledge on sound health care policy, and your stunning lack of interest in good medical practices are all "things we don't even really need"! Maybe instead of calling us and our health "special interests", maybe you should stop trying to subject us to all of your real "special interest" corporate buddies.

Joe Heck: Sharrontology Redux?

Of course, we've been hearing plenty lately about Sharron Angle and her opposition to HMOs covering everything from colon cancer screenings to autism care. We know how extreme and irrational she's been on health care.

As reported last week by the Sun’s Anjeanette Damon, a video of Angle at a Tea Party rally last year captured her mocking a 2009 Nevada law that requires health care plans to cover autism screening and treatment. It did not seem to matter to Angle that the bill passed 21-0 in the state Senate and 39-2 in the Assembly.

She told the gathering: “Take off the mandates for coverage in the state of Nevada and all over the United States. But here you know what I’m talking about. You’re paying for things you don’t even need.” She included in that category the coverage for autism, even using exaggerated air quotes to emphasize the word autism.

This callous attitude toward essential health care benefits was nothing new for Angle, who is running against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. When she served in the Assembly in 2003, she was on the losing end of a 39-2 vote on legislation that required health care plans to cover colorectal cancer screening. The same bill passed the Senate unanimously and became law.

What does that say about Angle? She’s obviously not the kind of politician who would be representing the interests of Nevadans on health care issues that come before the Senate. She has said she would repeal the national health care reforms, even though they will require insurers to cover children with pre-existing conditions, remove caps on lifetime coverage and allow young adults to remain on their parents’ policies until the age of 26.

Just extreme and irrational... But is she alone on this? Joe Heck wants us to think so, but wants the teabaggers to think differently.

Heck, considered a moderate Republican while in the state Senate, has swung more to the right since his days in the Legislature. His conservative proposals — he advocates dismantling the Education Department and creating optional private Social Security accounts — are likely an attempt to capitalize on the Tea Party wave that’s sweeping America. [...]

Heck, meanwhile, is keeping his distance from some of his GOP colleagues — namely U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle — while adopting much of the Tea Party rhetoric she uses. It’s a decidedly more conservative stance than he took in the Legislature, but one he hopes will not alienate independent voters.

Indeed, Heck has been endorsed by the House Conservatives Fund, whose chairman says the group supports “hard-core conservatives.”

“When he was in the state Legislature, he was Mr. Moderate, willing to compromise, solve problems,” said David Damore, a political scientist at UNLV. “But he sort of fell under the sway of the Tea Party folks.”

Heck says he wants "to cut through the partisan gridlock that makes government so ineffective and unappealing", but his record in the state legislature shows he was a part of that very partisan gridlock he now complains about. Take a look at SB 113, legislation to ensure HMOs cover prostate cancer screenings. Joe Heck voted against it, simply because he was opposed to "mandates". Even though these screenings can help in detecting cancer early enough to save lives AND save money (in terms of preventing more radically intrusive and radically expensive treatment), Heck couldn't be swayed.

Does this sound familiar?



Well, it should!

The logic is simple here. Prevention is often the best medicine, and it's certainly the most cost effective. So if Joe Heck was really concerned about this HPV virus and its cost, wouldn't he compare and contrast the cost of a Gardisil shot (about $360) with the cost of treating cervical cancer, which becomes much more likely after contracting the HPV virus (let's just say we now move into the many thousands of $$$$).

And what is Heck's "philosophical objection", actually? That women have sex? So does this mean he also wants men not to have sex? After all, men also spread the HPV virus that causes cervical cancer.

Joe Heck may be a doctor, but it seems that's not getting in his way in terms of disregarding the facts on women's health care.

Yes, let's not forget Joe Heck's now infamous opposition to SB 409, the bill that required insurance companies to cover HPV/cervical cancer vaccination if parents wanted it for their daughters. Again, he has "philosophical objections" to rewarding "risky behavior".

Again, does this sound familiar?



I guess Sharron Angle and Joe Heck have a whole lot in common when it comes to health care. Neither supports common sense preventive care to keep more people healthy and keep costs down for all of us. And both are more interested in padding insurance companies' profits than doing what's best for Nevada's working families.

Sharrontology, Meet Suzy Lowdown

Remember this?



Now look at this.



Sue Lowden imploded her own campaign with "Barter-gate". She demonstrated she knew nothing about good health care policy, she knew nothing about working class families and what they're enduring right now, and she knew nothing about how to keep her campaign functioning.



Sound familiar? Deja vu!



And deja vu?

Here's another fun data point in the Nevada Senate race. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is now being given a five-point lead over Sharron Angle -- by a Republican polling firm.

As Jon Ralston reports, a survey conducted for the Retail Association of Nevada by a well-known GOP polling firm, Public Opinion Strategies, showed the following numbers: Reid 45%, Angle 40%, plus 1% for Tea Party candidate Scott Ashjian. The survey of likely voters has a ±4.38% margin of error. The last publicly-released POS survey of this race was all the way back in February, and put Reid ahead of Angle and Ashjian by 37%-32%-16%.

According to this poll, Reid's favorable rating is only 44%, with 51% unfavorable -- a position that ought to spell political death for an incumbent. However, Angle is even lower at 38%-52%.

So once again, the Nevada GOoP looks to be succeeding in wresting defeat from the jaws of victory. And once again, their "chosen one" is sinking to complete absurdity.

Angle says women ‘staged the fight’ to detract from supposed news at non-debate [...]

Yes, that's what Senate hopeful Sharron Angle told national radio interviewer Jerry Doyle today about that scuffle at last night's Faith Lutheran forum, once again invoking Saul Alinsky. Angle seems to think every Democrat has read his works. Alinsky was a leftist community organizer and Angle loves talking about how her foes are using his techniques to disrupt her.

But can she possibly believe this was a set-up fight? What? As if that stepped on some great news event for her?

Deja vu?



All over again?





Sharrontology, meet Suzy Lowdown. And prepare for the same political fate.

She's just as out of touch.

As the forum ended and Angle turned to leave the stage, a woman approached her to ask why she wants to limit help for people with autism. The Reid campaign this week released video of Angle in which she appears to criticize a Nevada mandate that requires insurance companies to cover treatment for autism.

Angle ignored the question. Her handlers had warned that she would not be speaking with anyone after the event. They had to whisk her away to catch a flight to Reno for a morning fundraiser.

Angle looked past the woman, waved to the crowd one last time and walked away.

And she's just as clueless. Nevada is suffering. America is suffering! We need real help, not real crazy. People are looking for jobs, looking to save their homes, looking for someone who will represent us in Washington and work hard for working families. We didn't need Sue Lowden's nonsense, and we certainly don't need Sharron Angle's.

And she's just as clueless. Nevada is suffering. America is suffering! We need real help, not real crazy. People are looking for jobs, looking to save their homes, looking for someone who will represent us in Washington and work hard for working families. We didn't need Sue Lowden's nonsense, and we certainly don't need Sharron Angle's.

Bad policy. Bad attitude. Just plain bad for Nevada. Sharrontology.

Sharrontology Said No to Colon Cancer Screening?

Oh jeez, it gets worse. If you thought this was horrifying...



Then check this out!



Here's the scoop. In 2003, the state legislature passed SB 183, a bill requiring insurance companies to cover screenings to detect colon cancer. The vote in the then Republican-controlled Senate was unanimous (even current Nevada GOP Chair Mark Amodei voted YEA, along with Senate GOP leader Bill Raggio!), and in the Assembly only two Republicans voted against it... And yes, Sharron Angle was one of them!

And in case you were wondering if she's seen the error of her ways, she hasn't.

BOARD MEMBER: Let’s ask you some questions then. The latest mailer that Harry Reid has sent out is one that says you voted against requiring insurance companies to pay for mammograms and colonoscopies. So tell us your rationale for that.
ANGLE: Remember one of the things that we said would always be a good health care cost reform is to eliminate mandated coverages and allow people to participate in a just a basic plan and add the coverages they needed and take on those costs so that they knew what they were actually taking on. Those things that Harry Reid is complaining about are mandated coverages. And we have so many now in this state of Nevada that many insurers won’t even come in this state because they can’t.
BOARD MEMBER: How many are there?
ANGLE: How many insurers are there?
BOARD MEMBER: Mandates.
ANGLE: Mandates, I’m not even sure. When I left there were 21. And I don’t know how much beyond that. I’ve heard bigger numbers, but that was one of the things that I even had a bill to remove those mandates here in the state because every time they put a mandate on, somebody can’t afford it, somebody drops off those affordable insurance rolls and now they are uninsured. So if Harry Reid is really genuine and wants people to be insured, he needs to give them the opportunity to afford insurance and one of those things is to take off those mandated coverages, not put on more.

Wait... HUH??!! What is the point of having health insurance if it doesn't cover such basic preventive care as colon cancer screenings? What costs more, a colon cancer screening or intense chemotherapy after it's discovered at a late stage?

Yet again, Sharron Angle doesn't get health care. She doesn't understand that screening is a vital tool in treating colon cancer before it can become fatal. She doesn't understand that health care costs for everyone are far lower when serious ailments like cancer are prevented or treated early. She just doesn't understand good health care policy, and she keeps letting us know that she doesn't even want to.

Desert Beacon is totally correct that Sharrontology is a "Compassionless Conservative"... But that's not just cruel, it's also just plain stupid to oppose insurance coverage for preventive care.

Sharrontology Lies... on Autism & Health Care

Now that Sharron Angle has been caught red handed using autistic kids as pawns in her political game of currying favor with teabaggers, she's trying to make excuses for what she did. She tries to fault the legislation passed last past, saying she's just against "government mandates which falsely label other symptoms as autism". So let's take a look at the actual bill at hand, AB 162, to see what's in it.

“A health benefit plan must provide an option of coverage for screening for and diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders and for treatment of autism spectrum disorders…” [...]

“‘Autism spectrum disorders’ means a neurobiological medical condition including, without limitation, autistic disorder, Asperger’s Disorder and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified.” [...]

“‘Behavioral therapy’ means any interactive therapy derived from evidence-based research, including, without limitation, discrete trial training, early intensive behavioral intervention, intensive intervention programs, pivotal response training and verbal behavior provided by a licensed psychologist, licensed behavior analyst, licensed assistant behavior analyst or certified autism behavior interventionist.” [...]

“‘Applied behavior analysis’ means the design, implementation and evaluation of environmental modifications using behavioral stimuli and consequences to produce socially significant improvement in human behavior, including, without limitation, the use of direct observation, measurement and functional analysis of the relations between environment and behavior.”

Oh wait, so it just deals with autism... No "false labeling of other symptoms" to be found. And contrary to what she said, autistic kids need these treatments!

So what was AB 162 really about? Let's go back to February 2009 to see what the legislature was working on and what they wanted to address.

{Assm. James] Ohrenschall [D-Las Vegas, and the author of AB 192] has also won the support of several Assembly Republicans, including a key advocate, Assemblywoman Melissa Woodbury, R-Henderson, who teaches autistic children in the Clark County School District.

For their proponents, these laws offer a win-win: They gather support from an energized and well-organized constituency, and they force the insurance industry to pay for treatment that might otherwise fall to the state or school districts, and, in the case of the Silver State, Nevada Early Intervention Services.

If neither the insurance industry nor the government pays, the burden is left with families with autistic children.

Toddre, who has two autistic children, said, “The financial burden is unbelievable to try to give your child a decent future and a decent life.”

So why was this necessary?

Autism, a developmental disorder often impairing socialization, is now diagnosed in 1 out of every 150 children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The cost of effective treatment can reach $24,000 to $40,000 per year per child, with additional costs resulting from the various medical conditions that usually accompany autism, according to Ralph Toddre, founder of the Autism Coalition of Nevada, who also sits on the Nevada Commission on Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Insurance companies have traditionally declined to pay for treatment, which usually involves intensive speech and occupational therapy. They assert that the care is not strictly medical even though it arises from a medical condition.

This isn't cheap. Someone has to pay. Insurance can cover it. Or parents can be forced to pay everything out-of-pocket. Or the state can be forced to absorb all the costs. Legislators decided to work with the insurance companies to get them to agree to cover autism related health care.

So why is this care necessary? Republican Assembly Member Melissa Woodbury (R-Henderson) explained.

Autism is referred to by clinicians as Autism Spectrum Disorders, which refers to the wide range of symptoms and functionality among those born with it. The shared symptoms include problems with social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and repetitive behaviors or interests, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Without intensive treatment, autistic children will more than likely become wards of the state when they reach adult age.

Woodbury cited research showing 47 percent of children who receive early intervention and at least 30 hours per week of treatment lead independent lives as adults.

Of those who do not, 90 percent need a lifetime of expensive custodial care.

Autism Speaks, an organization devoted to autism awareness, has even more on AB 162 and what it's really about.

So what did we find? Well, AB 162 was written to ensure that insurance companies couldn't deny much needed health care and treatment to kids with autism. That's all. And despite Sharron Angle's attempts to deflect and change the subject to "taxes!" or "immigrants!" or something else that has nothing to do with AB 162 and autism care, she can't deny that she trashed sound policy and defended the supposed "right" of insurance companies to deny care to children because they may be "autistic" and the care they need isn't what she thinks she needs.



And not only is Angle's dismissal of autism care cold hearted, but it's also foolish, as Desert Beacon notes. Early care now means autistic kids can be grow up to be independent adults. It's still shocks me that Sharrontology would deny that. But then again, she does have a history of throwing common sense out the window. And she has a history of lying about her own words and actions when she falls into hot water over them.

Sharrontology Goes to the Gutter

Yep, she actually said it.

“Take off the mandates for coverage in the state of Nevada and all over the United States,” she shouts. “But here you know what I’m talking about. You’re paying for things you don’t even need.

“They just passed the latest one, is everything that they want to throw at us now is covered under 'autism',” she said, using exaggerated air quotes to deliver the word ‘autism.’

So we "don't even need" for insurance companies to treat fairly people with autism? Does Sharron Angle really want to stoop this low? Apparently so.



So are these people just burdens "we just don't need"?







And this is what Sharrontology bashed.

"Take off the mandates for coverage in the state of Nevada and all over the United States," Angle said. "But here you know what I'm talking about. You're paying for things you don't even need. They just passed the latest one, is everything that they want to throw at us now is covered under autism," she said, using her fingers to make quotes in the air while she said the word ‘autism.' "So that's a mandate that you have to pay for. How about maternity leave, I'm not going to have any more babies, but I sure get to pay for it on my insurance. So those are the things we want to get rid of."

Her comments regarding autism coverage refer to Assembly Bill 162, which passed with sweeping bipartisan support in the Nevada Legislature in 2009. Only two Nevada legislators voted no on the bill: Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, R-Amargosa, Churchill, Esmeralda, Lincoln, Mineral, Nye counties, and AssemblymanDon Gustavson, R-Sparks, Humboldt, Lander, Washoe counties. The bill passed 60-2 in both houses with one legislator absent.

Again, Sharron Angle reveals herself to be so far outside the mainstream and so far from common sense that even Republicans can't accept her extremism! No wonder why she won't talk to any journalists!



And no wonder why she won't talk to any real Nevadans like me. I have members of my own family who are autistic. I have an aunt who's helping to raise her autistic grandson. I know autism, and I know Sharron Angle is full of shit when she claims health care for autistic kids is "things you don't even need". What does she know about autism that I don't know and families dealing with autism don't know?

This just shows Sharrontology will do anything, even throw innocent kids with autism, under the bus to curry favor with teabaggers. Disgusting. She truly is unfit for higher office.

Joe Heck Goes the Way of Sharrontology... Again?

Take a look at what a "birdie" recently dropped in my inbox. Nevada Concerned Citizens, Richard Ziser's extremist pro-bigotry group, just released their general election survey. Of course, as expected, Sharron Angle supports forced birth, workplace discrimination, trampling over people's Constitutional rights, UN conspiracy theories, and much more. Another day in the ugly, hateful synergy of Sharron Angle and Richard Ziser!

But hey, look at who agrees with Sharrontology and her BFF Ziser... It's none other than Joe Heck! Ziser opposes ENDA, which would ensure that people aren't wrongfully fired from their jobs just because of who they are. He remains silent on repealing DADT and letting all our soldiers serve proudly and honestly. He opposes a woman's right to choose and make her own medical decisions. And it seems he doesn't mind dabbling in UN conspiracy theories.

Oh yes, Joe Heck must love himself some "CULTURE WARS!"

But if you think that's bad, it just gets worse.



Hey, don't believe me! Believe Heck's own record. Believe his own words on privatizing Social Security. He led the effort to give tax breaks to big banks in Carson City, and he obviously opposes reigning in Wall Street misbehavior. And he said he wanted to get rid of the Department of Education, the same department that makes block grants that our state's schools depend upon.



So just like Sharron Angle, Heck doesn't care about the needs of real Nevadans.



After all, let's not forget what he's said and done.

Dr. Heck even used the same wording as Angle, “the role of Congress is not to create jobs“, and he also wants to privatize Social Security and Medicare, just as Sharron Angle wants to do. In fact,Dr. Heck took $5000.00 dollars for signing a pledge to privatize Social Security and Medicare.

For more than 200 years, voters in every State have sent their elected officials to DC to help bring money back to their States for all kinds of special projects that create jobs.
There are thousands of special projects across the country and most of them are worthy projects and deserving of our federal dollars, not all special projects are pork.

Because of Nevada’s Democratic delegation of Dina Titus, Shelly Berkley, and Harry Reid, new jobs are being created for Nevada.

Solar plants, wind turbines, and geothermal are all being expanded in our State, and with that expansion comes jobs. A new high speed train system from Southern California to Las Vegas will be built, which will bring more tourists to our State, which will create new jobs. A new VA hospital, more jobs, etc. You get the idea.

None of those special projects could have happened without the help of the federal government and the federal dollars that our elected officials help to secure for those special projects.

Again, Heck's own words.

"The primary's over. We now have to rally around a slate of candidates up and down the ticket -- Sharron Angle all the way down the ticket."

And while Heck made some minor tweaks to it, his platform looks awfully similar to hers.

And indeed parts of the candidates’ platforms are similar.

Heck and Angle believe education decisions are best made at the local level, and both advocate dismantling the Education Department as a Cabinet-level agency. Both have said it’s not the government’s role to create jobs, although both have clarified their positions, saying government instead should create an environment with reasonable regulations and a stable, fair tax base to help the private sector create jobs. Both candidates also oppose abortion, but Heck believes exceptions should be made to save the life of a mother or in documented cases of rape or incest.

Yet there are key differences.

Angle favors privatizing Social Security, saying she wants to “transition out” the current system, while Heck wants a voluntary second option for investing. He would like to see a Social Security program in which people can choose to invest their dollars in diverse markets. Employers would continue contributing to the existing Social Security system.

So I guess Joe Heck and Sharron Angle have an "on again, off again" kind of relationship. He agrees with her when he appeals to teabaggers, but runs as far away from her as possible when trying to appeal to all the rest of us.

Does Sharrontology Hate Our Troops?

Yeah, this is just another ad. But in so many ways, it's so true. And not just of her, but of so many of her GOoPer pals. Look at what just happened.

A Republican-led filibuster on Tuesday blocked efforts to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military, shelving an Obama administration priority at least until after the November election.

The measure repealing the military policy banning gays from serving openly was part of the 2011 Defense authorization bill. Democrats tried to bring the bill up for consideration but failed to get the 60 votes necessary to overcome determined GOP-led opposition. Supporters voted 56-43 in favor of starting debate on the Defense bill, short of the 60 needed. [...]

The Defense bill includes a 1.4% pay raise for the troops as well as funding for the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), the Senate Democratic whip, also vowed to bring the Dream Act back for another vote.

Both political parties have used the authorization bill in years past to advance other legislative goals, so the failure of the military spending plan was seen as unusual. But the process had grown politicized, especially in the limited time remaining before Congress was to adjourn to campaign full time.

The "don't ask, don't tell" law, enacted in 1993, has been targeted by President Obama for repeal, and a federal judge in California this month declared it unconstitutional. Under the proposed legislation, repeal would take effect 60 days after completion of a Pentagon report on steps needed to ensure military readiness. The report is due in December. The House passed the repeal in the spring.

This bill includes funding for our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. It ensures that all our troops can serve openly and honestly. As I explained earlier, the Senate Republicans are endangering our country by injecting their partisan politics into this. And without a doubt, Sharron Angle would have supported these kinds of ridiculous games, as she had a history of doing this in the state legislature.

So just to spite LGBTQ Americans, Sharrontology would go along with Senate GOoP leadership to harm our country's national security by letting go of much needed soliders. And block cost of living pay raises for all our troops. And put VA funding to help our veterans at risk.

But hey, she has a history of supporting this. If you think that's bad, it just gets worse.



And yes, it's true. These are Angle's own words.

ANGLE: He's 87 years old and has Parkinson's and we have to pay more and more for his healthcare. I know he pays over 800 dollars a month in prescription drugs that we can't get through his VA nor through Medicare -- they just wont cover those things. And I know lots of seniors --

BECKER: Should they cover those things?

ANGLE: No, not if you're working towards a privatized system. And he can pay for them. That's my whole point. Even with the system we've got, it's broken, its not covering for every cost that he has. And if he were dependent upon that, he wouldn't be getting the healthcare he needs and that's why we need to fix the system.

Again, she actually said she wants to privatize the VA.



So does Sharrontology hate our troops? No, I won't go there.

However, yet again, we can not deny that Sharron Angle's dangerous radical right ideological extremism means she'll always put her laissez faire "ideas" over what's best for Nevadans. And yes, she doesn't even mind doing this to our active duty soldiers and our veterans.

Now contrast this to what Harry Reid has been doing.







Yet again, the choice can't be clearer. We have someone who puts his actions where his mouth is in terms of actually supporting the troops. And we have someone who just lies, contradicts, and puts her extreme ideology over real people's needs.

GOoP Hypocrisy Inaction: They Accuse Reid of "Playing Politics" While They Endanger the Country

In today's Sun, some Republicans are whining about DADT repeal and the DREAM Act being included in this year's defense authorization bill. Here's how ridiculous they sound.

The last time the DREAM Act came up for a vote, in 2007, it did not pass, but 12 Republicans supported the measure. This time, Democrats aren’t sure if they will get any Republicans to support a cloture vote on the defense authorization bill.

On “don’t ask, don’t tell,” many Republicans have said they prefer to defer to the decisions of military leaders, a position echoed by the Angle campaign. This year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates came out in support of repealing the policy.

Republicans are nonetheless expected to attempt to block the addition of the DREAM Act, and potentially even purge the existing language on repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” from the defense bill. Led by Arizona Sen. John McCain — a former champion of immigration reform who has tacked to the right on the issue this campaign season — they have been making the case against inclusion of both measures on the ground that they are not relevant to the bill.

Ah, so John McCain doesn't like the DREAM Act... Except that he did in 2008, when he tried to court the Latin@ vote!



But now that he's had to court the teabaggers to win his primary, all of a sudden he abandons comprehensive immigration reform and turns his back on the kids who need the DREAM Act to go to college, get work, and be productive American citizens.

And as Edward Schumacher-Matos wrote in a WaPo blog yesterday, it's just ridiculous for all these Republicans who supported the DREAM Act three years ago to now say Democrats are "playing politics" and somehow hurting The Pentagon... Especially when The Pentagon SUPPORTS this legislation!

The Dream Act would offer legal residency to unauthorized immigrant young people who, through no fault of their own, came with their parents and grew up here. But they must first complete two years of college or military service. These deserving young people are almost all culturally American, having gone to school here. American taxpayers have thus already invested in them, too. Now the young immigrants would pay back through military service or getting more education and joining the upper ranks of productive, taxpaying citizens.

Republican senators, however, say, as Arizona's Sen. John McCain (R) told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren, that, by using the armed forces bill, Reid is cynically out to get votes "at the expense…of the men and women who are serving in the military."

That argument might hold more water were it not that the Pentagon itself favors the Dream Act, having helped draw it up in 2001 and including the projected recruits they would get through it in the Department of Defense's FY2010-12 Strategic Plan.

Moreover, McCain was among 12 Republicans who voted in 2007 for an identical cloture motion on an annual defense authorization bill that was scheduled to include a similar version of the Dream Act as an amendment.

Pathetic, isn't it?

And here's where it gets even worse. Most Senate Republicans seem determined to block DADT repeal, even though DADT hurts our national security and serves no purpose other than blatant discrimination. Doesn't our country deserve better? And don't all our brave soldiers deserve better?







Apparently, some Republicans think not. But again, our country and our security are at stake. This DADT policy serves no purpose, and a federal court has already ruled it unconstitutional. So why continue it?

But if we're to believe the GOoPers, this is all just "Harry Reid playing politics"... While they're the ones holding up the funding for our military, leaving many American kids' futures in limbo, and continuing an unconstitutional and dangerous discriminatory policy?

Sharrontology Makes No Sense, Makes No Cents

Once again, Sharron Angle is contradicting herself. She says she supports the very things she's been opposing, and she says she opposes the very things she's been supporting. And she's not a "typical politician"?

Well, maybe not in one way. Without a doubt, she's gone off the deep end in terms of her radical right "insani-tea". Even Republicans run away from it! And even the teabaggers are having to cancel their Las Vegas convention over it!

But you know what just makes Sharron Angle's campaign even worse? These days, she's trying to distract us from her extremism by trying to blame whoever she can for "The Great Recession". She may say she wants to "talk about the economy", but she never offers any real solutions.

She mocks green collar jobs as "designer" energy, but many real Nevadans have benefitted from Harry Reid's work to encourage more renewable energy development in this state.









She dismisses Reid's work to help save CityCenter as "shifting the decks of The Titanic"...



And mocks his and others' efforts to save the entire tourism industry here in Nevada by preventing the dangerous Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump from opening right along active fault lines (prone to earthquakes) and less than 100 miles away from Las Vegas!



And if you think that's bad enough, it just gets worse. Harry Reid worked to pass the Small Business Jobs Act and the HIRE Act to help small businesses hire workers again.



Sharrontology opposed this help to small businesses, instead favoring the same "billionaire bailouts" that George Bush championed and helped cause the budget deficit we're dealing with today.

And wait, there's even more. When $83 million in aid for Nevada schools was on the line, Sharron Angle blithely dismissed this as solely "an emergency in Harry Reid's mind".



Really? Even though we know that strong schools and good education are essential to a sound economy and more good jobs.





So just to sum up how Sharron Angle wants to "talk about the economy", she wants Nevada to forfeit our green jobs opportunities. And she wants to destroy our tourism and gaming industry by mocking the work done to save CityCenter and supporting turning Nevada into a giant, dangerous, radioactive waste dump that tourists would be sure to avoid. And she wants to let Nevada schools fail because she wouldn't fight for funding to keep teachers on the job.

Well, now we know why she just thinks we're "spoiled".



Seriously, Sharrontology makes no sense AND makes no "cents". In more ways than one, Nevada can't afford her batsh*t crazy.