The Collin County Tea Party put together a great Labor Day celebration on Monday, 9-7-09, in Frisco, Texas (north of Dallas). It was held on the town square. GETREAL. tv interviewed nineteen people (yes, 19) to get their opinions of the state-of-affairs of the United States as it pertained to taxes, ObamaCare, and just the general march towards Socialism or Marxism, as proposed by Barack Obama.
The people in the crowd were there to listen to speakers and be heard if anyone was listening. GETREAL.tv listened and video taped these great Americans for all the world to hear and learn. They were unabashed with their opposition to Barack Obama and his far left plans for our great country. The greatness was in the fact that people were unafraid to express their deepest feelings and opinions in the clearest of terms. They did not mince words about their opposition to Barack Obama and their “why”, whether commenting about ObamaCare or taxes or socialism or Marxism, etc. They just let it all out. One lady who had immigrated from Cuba some forty years ago, likened what she is seeing from Barack Obama to Castro’s changes in Cuba and what the changes did to Cuba. She did not hold back. No one held back. Good for them and good for us.
Chet Edwards, Congressman of the 17th District of Texas, held his third and final face-to-face Town Hall meeting within his district. He held it in Cleburne, Texas before 700 – 800 people on Friday, 9-4-09. Congressman Edwards’ initial remarks began with his record of supporting the troops and the Veterans Administration. His support was appreciated and so evidenced by the round of applause from the entire crowd. But it went just so far, as he spent the associated political capital very quickly. Most in the crowd were absolutely against the proposed Health Insurance Reform Bill, also known as ObamaCare.
Congressman Edwards remained calm among the yells from the crowd in disapproval of his answers to questions concerning the Obama Health Insurance Reform Bill. Yet, he did not calm the crowd with his calm demeanor. Edwards was, as they say in Texas, wishy-washy. The constituents at the Town Hall meeting in Cleburne, Texas were obviously not getting clear answers that represented their opinions as a whole. He was non-committal, saying he was going to hold off on his decision to vote fore or against until he had heard from his constituents and had time to study the bill. This did not ”play” well with his constituents in this crowd since he has had plenty of time to read and study the bill. In fact, on this night he said that he had “spent hundreds of hours reading and studying the bill”, but only a week before he had told another crowd that he had not read it. Chet, which is it? If you have “read and studied the bill for hundreds of hours”, how could you not have an opinion for yourself. Do you like it or dislike it as represented by its original content?
On Monday, August 31, 2009, in Richardson, Texas four North Texas Congressmen met for a Town Hall meeting in front of 2000+ enthusiastic citizens, most of whom came to show their disgust for the proposed Government Run Health Care plan of the Democrats.
The four Congressmen included Sam Johnson, Joe Barton, Jeb Hensarling and Pete Sessions. With these four Congressmen on the same stage were four people from different walks of life and different companies, all with solution ideas for our Health Care problems. Each one had their own experiences, including a true “Co-op” medical group, up and running; a leader physician of a full scale multi-physician practice that delivers high quality care at a lower cost; the CEO of Baylor Health Care System; and, a County Judge using a free discount prescription card. Their ideas offered solutions for rising costs, quality of Health Care, Access to Health Care and issues related to insurability.
There was no doubt that all four Congressmen are against the Health Insurance Reform Bill as proposed or in any form that it may take. Joe Barton pointed out that the version that left the Energy & Commerce committee, of which he is the ranking minority member, is not 1000 to 1100 pages, but instead, it is 1,500 pages – and they are not done yet. Yes, 1,500 pages! Joe went on to point out that, in his opinion, within seven years, private health insurance will not exist, no matter what Barack Obama says.
Make no mistake, the purpose of Obamacare is to move us to full-scale Government Run Health Care.
Guess what Americans. House Bill, H.R. 3200, has a provision exempting federal employees, state employees and tribal land employees from coverage under the plan. Why? If it good enough for the rest of us, why is it not good enough for these three groups of government employees!
If it is such a great bill why would the house deny these three groups from its coverage? Well, it is NOT such a great bill, with benefits that equal or surpass the plans of the aforementioned groups. These three government groups will stay on a great health insurance plan administered by insurance companies but paid by the the government with our tax dollars. Why should they get this special treatment? Congress is taking care of the new elite government class of people.
Congressman Joe Barton of the 6th District of Texas conducted an informative Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 in Kennedale, Texas (south of Fort Worth), targeting the proposed Health Insurance Reform Bill. He arrived to a serious welcome, as the people in attendance wanted answers. For answers they had the right Congressman in front of them for it was clear that Joe believes that “the truth shall set you free”.
An emphasis needs to be put on the word “informative”, for this Town Hall Meeting rose to a higher level of “informative” details than any other in the USA. The reason is that Congressman Barton is the senior ranking Republican member on the House Energy & Commerce committee, which is handling a large portion of the Health Insurance Reform Bill. When Republicans had control of the House, Congressman Barton was Chairman of this same committee. It is a powerful committee and he knows it inside and out. Most importantly, the Congressman has a passion for its business and specifically why the Health Insurance Reform Bill should be defeated.
Joe Barton was very relaxed and affable . . he was in his element and in control. He did not mince words . . all the while remaining calm. He was extremely believable with his demeanor and details, which have a way of silently communicating, “come . . follow me . . we have some work to get done”.
[As a side note, Congressman Joe Barton took an opportunity put everyone more at ease by letting us know that he is a Registered Professional Engineer. Everyone felt better for the fact that he is not an attorney.]
The Congressman had an excellent large poster as a visual aide depicting the new Health Insurance Reform Bill in a flow chart format, showing all the new elements, how they connected and where the existing elements fit in. The crowd could see from the beginning that it had to be Anti-Citizen . . as there were many more new elements than existing ones.
The Congressman gave the crowd a status report of the Reform Bill in the House and the Senate and then picked key new elements in the reform bill on the poster, showing how each connected with others and how each or in combination with other elements would affect our health care and more importantly our health care decisions, if put into place. He knew his “stuff”. What Joe Barton described WAS NOT PRETTY . . socialized medicine by any name at the top of the bill.
The Congressman made it clear that he is against the Health Insurance Reform Bill, no matter what form it takes. As far as he is concerned, it can not be fixed. As he said, “we have to defeat this bill . . we will defeat this bill”. The Republicans sponsored over 35 amendments, with only 5 being passed by the committee.
Bottom line: Americans with their doctors will NOT have the control over their health care decisions they enjoy today . . not by a long shot. Barack Obama’s Health Insurance Reform Plan will take over in a way never believed possible in this country. Socialized medicine, in any form, has not worked to the satisfaction of the majority of citizens in countries where it is employed and it will not work to the satisfaction of Americans. The worst part from what the Congressman pointed out element by element, is that Barack Obama’s plan is much WORSE than that described in the media, even the conservative media. It is that bad.
Joe Barton recommended in answering a question that people write and speak with everyone they can to get them to influence their congressman to work against the plan. He even pointed out that Chet Edwards’ district is just south of Kennedale and that would be a great place to get started.
