United Health had 155% profit in 2nd Q report; Blue Cross Democrat Mike Ross (Ark) on the take

On the "Ed Schultz Show" it was announced that United Health got profits of 155% in the second quarter
-a major detail that you will never hear from Fox News and similar right-wing, pro-Republican biased media. Here is the link, to hear audio archive of Schultz's first occasion to announce these outrageous profits.
And the MSNBC transcript page, of Ed's announcement there, 6 PM, Wednesday night.

MIKE ROSS, Blue Dog Democrat, ooh, make that "Blue Cross Democrat," has made millions from prescription drugs.
Scroll below the following story for Mike Ross' work to oppose public health reform.
From Blue Dog Lake, the Blue Texan's blog, Wednesday, July 22, 2009. Read the story. Ross has some gall to profit from drugs and also stall the health bill, THEN CALL HIS OFFICE, AND TELL HIM TO LET PUBLIC OPTION pass.

Every Blue Dog who claims to be "concerned about the costs" of health care reform is really just concerned about preserving their gravy train.

Rep. Mike Ross was at the White House Tuesday demanding Democrats produce a health-care bill that keeps costs under control. Mr. Ross is himself a Democrat -- and a powerful one. He is bringing together fellow party members on the crucial House Energy and Commerce Committee in rebellion against the health bill backed by House Democratic leaders.
...

There are 51 Blue Dogs in the full House, Mr. Ross pointed out, more than enough to kill the health bill if they join the Republicans.

Thanks, Mike! Your commitment to the financial well-being of our country is admirable.

This is probably just a coincidence.

A pharmacist, Ross founded Ross Pharmacy Inc. He sold the business in 2007, but according to his 2008 financial disclosure form, he and wife Holly still "own 100% of stock" in the company, which pays dividends over $100,000 a year. Holly Ross is also listed as employed by Super D Drug Acquisition Co.

And while Ross rakes it in, nearly 1 in 5 residents of Arkansas are without health insurance.

Guess who's his biggest sugar daddy?

The health industry was the #1 sector contributing to Ross last year. OpenSecrets.org lists $261,000 in contributions from individuals and PAC's from health care businesses.

Shocker.

Tell Mike Ross to stop putting his personal interests before his country's.

Office:

1-800-223-2220

202 225-3772

(202) 225-1314 Fax

Email:

mike.ross@mail.house.gov

"Mike Ross and the Blue Dogs Sell Their Souls"

. . . Yes, Ross seemed to take particular pleasure in letting real Democrats and Americans who desperately need real reform know that he plans on selling them out in every sense of the word:

Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross, a key negotiator on health care for moderate Blue Dog Democrats, has warned that "there's no way they can pass the current bill on the House floor. Not even close."

"I suspect we'll have all the time we need, given they don't have the votes to get it out of committee," Ross said

Well, I am so glad you have so much time Mr. Ross. Your healthcare is a sweet deal and is provided by us. Unfortunately for many of us who you hold in such low regard we do not have that luxury. We cannot afford to see a doctor to get stitches to sew up the wound from your stab in the back.

And of course when it comes to raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans Mike Ross by his own words might as well be Rush Limbaugh:

The conservative Arkansas Democrat also objects to the surtaxes included in the bill, saying, "I don't like the idea of raising taxes in the worst economic crisis since World War II."

http://www.politico.com/news/s...
***
HEALTH COMPANIES' BOY, MIKE ROSS, BLOCKING HEALTH REFORM:
. . . .

A leader of the Blue Dog Coalition of conservative House Democrats said Thursday that he and six others in the group would vote together to block the bill in the Energy and Commerce Committee unless changes were made to slow the growth rate of federal health care spending and to ensure that rural hospitals are adequately reimbursed for treating new patients under the legislation.

"We simply are demanding a bill that contains costs so that health care can grow at the normal rate of inflation and that addresses many of the rural health care concerns that (hospitals be adequately reimbursed) and that we don't put small businesses out of business through an employer mandate," Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., said in an interview.

In response to the Blue Dogs' demands, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said that there would be opportunity for members to make additional "structural changes" to the bill to address cost concerns.

"Can there be more (savings)? I think so," she said. "And that is what the legislative process is about. You don't write the whole bill, introduce it, and then go to the floor. This is the time now for an open process of bipartisan review of the bill in the committees. So, I am hopeful and optimistic that there will be more savings."

Ross, chairman of the Blue Dogs' health care task force, said the six other Democrats who'd vote to block the bill are Reps. Zack Space of Ohio, Baron Hill of Indiana, Charlie Melancon of Louisiana, John Barrow of Georgia, Jim Matheson of Utah, and Bart Gordon of Tennessee . . . .

* * *
If that's not enough, MIKE ROSS AND OTHER BLUE DOG / BLUE CROSS DEMOCRATS TAKE TIME OUT TO RAISE FUNDS,
as the Sunlight Foundation's politicalpartytime.org reported this week:

Blue Dogs party as planned

The Huffington Post’s Arthur Delaney reports that canceled health care hearings this week cleared the calendar for Blue Dogs to fundraise as planned:

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce was supposed to be the third leg supporting health care reform legislation already approved by two other House committees. Instead, this week it’s become more of a fifth wheel. The committee’s markup sessions for Tuesday and Wednesday have been canceled in the face of opposition to the bill from the panel’s conservative “Blue Dog” Democrats.

So Monday’s markup may have lasted past midnight, but on Tuesday evening the committee’s Blue Dogs were free to party, and party they did! Reps. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) and Jim Matheson (D-Utah) feted fellow Blue Dog Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.) at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse in Northwest Washington from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Ross is the lead Blue Dog on health care reform.

Read more here [in Huffington Post].

Blue Republic of America

What this page is about: Promoting the values and the cause of the Democratic Party of the United States, and in a progressive direction. --And pursuing the question and the quest: how do we convert more voters and more states in the blue (Democratic of course) direction.

As to the word, Republic, our country is a republic, not a democracy. Let's go back to middle school or high school, or in case you learned it later . . . a democracy is a government in which the people directly rule, legislate (pass laws). A republic is a government in which the laws are made by a separate government, and in other definitions, the government is made of elected representatives, representing the will of the people.

Before I lose you, we --Democrats-- stand a risk of losing this election (2008 presidential election) again. For, as in the case of the 2000 election, the Electoral College potentially could play the breaking role in the election. Let's just review, in the 2000 election, Al Gore and Joe Lieberman decisively defeated George W. Bush and Dick Cheney by over 540,000 votes in the popular vote.

Who are the electors of the Electoral College? Article II of the U.S. Constitution established the Electoral College as the body that would elect our President. (It was amended by the 12th Amendment, 1803, to correct problems in the first two Presidential Elections, 1796 and 1800.) The electors, not the national electorate, are the people that elect our president. The electors are individuals that are presented by the political parties in each state to act as representatives of the state in the Electoral College when it meets. The electors are obliged to vote for the political party's nominee for president at the Electoral College's meeting in mid-December.

(Are you still with me? Do you think that we have a democratic republic for our government? Are we selecting our president?)

How do some Electoral College votes result in victories for the losers of the Popular vote? The number of electors is not proportional to the number of people voting or living in each state. I'm getting bored already; how does this affect the elections?

Each state gets its electors by the number of Senators (2 -since each state, no matter its population, gets two Senators) and the number of Representatives that it has. (The Representatives are assigned to each state on the basis of their population.)

SO, here's how the system can give lop-sided victories:

A small state like, Wyoming, our least populous state, with only 515,000 (per infoplease.com), gets two Senators. Meanwhile, California, our most populous state, with a population of 36 million, also gets two Senators.

This means that the weight of one person's vote from a small state, like Wyoming, carries greater strength in the Senate and in the Electoral College than that of a voter from a larger state like California, Texas or New York.

In the 2000 election, Bush and Cheney sewed up the less-populous-state vote with Wyoming, Montana, Alaska, the Dakotas, and so on. Basically, look at election maps, and look west of the 95 degree longitude. Notice how the states to the west (excepting the Pacific Coast states) are solidly Republican.

So, we are at risk, again, of an Electoral College loss to the Republicans.

If this becomes the situation again in 2008, we should show our disdain for this arcane impediment toward a democratic selection of our president. We should have mass protests, as in the "Orange Revolution" of the Ukraine and as in the pro-Lopez Obrador protests in the 2006 Mexican presidential election. We should agitate to reform this method of electing our president. On the other hand, we should not be naive: changing this would require amending the Constitution. And amending the Constitution will require the cooperation of small states.

In the short run then, we must agitate for ensuring the integrity of the vote, especially in marginal, or swing states, such as Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, Florida.