Is Joe Heck or Sharron Angle Really on Our Side?

Yesterday, we talked about how Sharron Angle has become yet another Beltway Republican creation with her inside deals and arrogant dismissals of the concerns of Nevada's working families. And yet again, she's not alone. Take a look at who's been copying her notes.



Once again, Joe Heck is following Sharron Angle's lead. Just as she bashed Nevada kids and their futures...



Just like Angle, Heck wants to do away with the Department of Education, and with it all the block grants that keep Nevada's schools open. And just like Angle, Heck opposed help for our schools and to keep teachers in our kids' classrooms. Even though we all know a good education is the key to a successful career, Heck just doesn't care about our schools, our kids, or our economic future.

Why? But of course, his corporate patrons prefer more "billionaire bailouts" and other special tax breaks for the super-rich. Who needs such silly things as schools when Joe Heck's big corporate buddies can get more bailouts!

After all, look at who's bailing out Joe Heck's campaign! The US Chamber of Commerce endorsed Heck, and they're now putting on attack ads saying all the usual lies about Dina Titus. The Chamber is using foreign funds from foreign companies to fund these attacks!



Ever wonder why Heck won't say anything about creating more American jobs?



He's taking the big bucks from the corporate powers that be, so he has no problems sending more of our jobs overseas. And he has no problem giving more bailouts to billionaires while working class Nevadans suffer.

Sound familiar?



Just as Sharron Angle cuts her deals to serve the Beltway Republican corporate agenda...



Joe Heck does what his corporate patrons tell him to do, Nevadans be damned.

But you know who has been on our side? Dina Titus has.

She worked to deliver on health care reform that cuts costs, allows for more access to quality care, and protects patients from insurance industry wrongdoing. (And more Americans want to see it work!) She worked and fought for all her constituents, to protect all our civil rights, and make sure that LGBTQ families that are already being hit hard in this economy aren't being hit even more because of discrimination.



And when Southern Nevada's LGBTQ community looked for leadership to stop the bullying that's killing our kids



She's also worked to help people stay in their homes.



And she's worked to bring more jobs back to Southern Nevada! All in all, she's kept her priorities in order.



So who's really on our side here? Someone who's crisscrossing the district, meeting constituents as often as she can, helping local homeowners save their homes, and doing all she can to help Nevada's working families weather this economic storm? Or yet another Chamber of Commerce/"Tea Party, Inc." backed GOP Beltway tool who basks in the "aura" of his Orly Taitz endorsement and foreign funded Chamber of Commerce attack ads on his behalf while ignoring the needs of Southern Nevada working families?



The choice is ours.

Sharron Angle: Typical DC GOoP Politician

We've heard so often this year about this "anti-incumbent wave", this "anti-establishment mood", this "anti-Washington sentiment". And so often, we see Republican politicians here, there, and everywhere act like they will magically "clean house" once elected.

We definitely keep hearing Sharron Angle talk about this... But just how often does she actually pay attention to people here in Nevada?

Recently, all the buzz has been about Sharron Angle and her private meeting with Tea Party of Nevada candidate Scott Ashjian. Long story short, she tried to cajole him out of the election because she fears his candidacy (which has recently made the low single digits in public opinion polls) will cost her the election.

Most pundits have been focusing plenty on the "inside ball games" on how Angle was received by national Republicans at a DC fundraiser last night or how Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn try to work with her, but in my humble opinion I think they're seriously missing the point. Thankfully a "homegrown pundit", Jon Ralston of The Las Vegas Sun, actually blurted it out on MSNBC last night.



That's the real story here. Angle has bashed "Let's Make a Deal" and repeatedly said that she "won't do back room deals". But come on, what do you call this??!!



For all her talk of being "grassroots", Angle is just another tool of the same big corporate powers that be that gave us George Bush, John Ensign, and Jim Gibbons. All one has to do is look at who funds her to realize where her real priorities lie.

When she puts autism in "air quotes", dismisses mammograms and colon cancer screenings as unnecessary, and talks of health care for pregnant women as "things we don't need", this is what
she really means.

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".

Don't believe me? See for yourself.



And her extreme "Tea Party, Inc." agenda doesn't stop there. She also doesn't care for creating jobs or helping Nevadans in need.



Compare...



And contrast...





While Harry Reid works to bring jobs back to Nevada and increase our access to quality, affordable health care, Sharron Angle cuts back room deals to limit our ballot choices and cozies up to DC's "Republican Top Guns" who have never had Nevada's best interests in mind. That's why she brags that she's "not in the business of creating jobs". That's why she brags about wanting to "get rid of all mandates" so insurance companies can increase their profit margins while neglecting to provide the health care we're supposed to be receiving. And that's why she takes her marching orders from outside corporate interests like California Republican lobbyist Sal Russo and his "Tea Party Express" instead of any real Nevadans.

So who do we want? And what do we want? Someone who's committed to making Nevada, and America, a better place for all of us? Or yet another typical Republican politician who cares nothing about Nevada's working families and who's only out for herself?

Tuesday LOL: Harry Reid on His iPhone

Jeez, who knew our Senate Majority Leader could text like that? Now if only the rest of the US Senate could step into the 21st Century... ;-)

Ralston Says the Obvious on Sharrontology's Deal

I guess he read what I had to say about this yesterday.

So for all her talk of rejecting "Let's Make a Deal Harry" and her bashing of Harry Reid's negotiating skills, Angle then did something that she claimed she doesn't do. She's a hypocrite. She claims she doesn't "play the game", but behind the scenes she plays like no one else has tried before. She claims she's a part of some "grassroots uprising", but she's been bankrolled by a cabal of California corporate lobbyists and she's cozied up to the very entrenched special interests she claims to "fight".

Hypocrisy, thy name is Sharrontology. Meet "The New GOoP", same as the old GOoP.

Hypocrisy, Thy Name Is Sharrontology

Angle: Says the grass roots movement “gives me juice. That’s really all I can offer to you (Ashjian) is whatever juice I have, you have as well…You want to see DeMint, I have juice with him….I go to Washington, DC and want to see Jim DeMint, he’s right there for me. I want to see Tom Coburn, he’s right there for me. I want to see Mitch McConnell, he’s there.”

I guess we finally found the real Sharrontology. Behind all the inflated rhetoric, all the confusion over what she really did, and all the sideshows of the various outside interests trying to push her on Nevada, we finally caught a glimpse of the real Sharron Angle when she did the very thing she said she doesn't do: cut back room deals behind closed doors!

A tape of the 38-minute meeting that I have obtained provides a rare window into the kinds of discussions that take place during campaigns behind closed doors, redolent of the authenticity that disappears in public or in TV ads.

The conversation reveals Angle almost desperate to show Ashjian they are like-minded, that they both disdain the major parties, but insistent that the Tea Party of Nevada contender could help Reid win if he doesn’t embrace her candidacy. Ashjian emphasizes he believes a third party is the only way and that he believes he can garner a fifth of the vote, which seems fantastically optimistic, to put it mildly.

Angle expresses disdain for the national GOP, which she says she now has “in a box” because she won the primary, which caused the DC types after her June 8 victory to still be “moaning and groaning and weeping and gnashing teeth over Sue Lowden.” Later, she tries to persuade Ashjian to endorse her because she will have “juice” he can tap into to get access to Sens. Jim DeMint, Tom Coburn and Mitch McConnell.

I can just hear it now: The woman who calls the majority leader “Let’s Make a Deal Harry Reid” becomes “Let’s Make a Deal Sharron Angle”. [Emphasis mine.]

So there you have it. Sharron Angle did the very thing she said she doesn't do. She tried to cut a deal. And do it behind closed doors. And she tried to bribe Ashjian with "juice", with access.

Don't believe me? Don't believe Ralston? Listen to the audio for yourself!

So for all her talk of rejecting "Let's Make a Deal Harry" and her bashing of Harry Reid's negotiating skills, Angle then did something that she claimed she doesn't do. She's a hypocrite. She claims she doesn't "play the game", but behind the scenes she plays like no one else has tried before. She claims she's a part of some "grassroots uprising", but she's been bankrolled by a cabal of California corporate lobbyists and she's cozied up to the very entrenched special interests she claims to "fight".

Hypocrisy, thy name is Sharrontology. Meet "The New GOoP", same as the old GOoP.

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.