Paulsen willing to 'look at anything' to end government shutdown
Article by: KEVIN DIAZ , Star Tribune
Updated: October 1, 2013 - 10:06 PM
[...] The following is a lightly edited transcript of an interview on Tuesday.
Q: Who is going to shoulder the blame for this shutdown?
A: We’re all going to shoulder some of the blame. I took some calls myself in the office. We had about 100 calls in D.C., about 60 in Minnesota. People obviously are saying, “Hey, the government doesn’t need to be shut down.” “Why is this happening?” A handful say, “Stay strong.” It’s a little bit of a mix … The bottom line is it’s not good to have a government shutdown, folks expect government to work …
[...]
Q: Is there a way out besides putting off Obamacare?
A: There is an opportunity where there are Democrats that have indicated that they might support some delays of some components of the health care law, particularly around the individual mandate. However, the one vote that has garnered the most bipartisan support was repeal of the medical device tax. … If we can look at some ideas there, maybe that will break up the logjam.
[...]
So, also willing to whore to Medtronic. Good for Erik. He knows who butters bread in Minnesota.
But that headline, "willing to 'look at anything' " is encouraging in a way, so even while honked off over the stupid gamesmanship, I figured, take the guy up on his "willingness."
This is his congressional contact website link.
https://paulsenforms.house.gov/contact-me/
I used that page to send an indication of my judgment on the situation. That webpage asks first for, (and will not transfer the message without), private information, some of which I felt okay to provide, but street address, to me that is private enough that I put in "666 Noneofyourbusiness Ave." and the message got through - and if he abuses the franking privilege the way Bachmann has, there will be at least one undeliverable frustration of the guy's propaganda opportunity mill. I did give my email, since if he has staff contact me I can post of it, and if he puts me on a roto-email list, I know how to mark spam as spam. You have to pick a topic, and on quick scanning the list "SHUTDOWN" was not a choice so I picked "Social Security" since I was already in the "S" part of the options list.
Here is my message:
Stop being a duck on this shutdown.
I want my check on time.
Tell Kline to stop too.
I thought simplicity best, using few words rather than many, but I fear in haste I may have typed an "i" in place of a "u" but otherwise I think the intended message got through, since he claims he's willing to consider anything.
____________UPDATE_____________
Never forget: The VA is single payer, and proof single payer works without bankrupting the coffers in DC.
It is as much socialized medicine as is the well-functioning Canadian system; which in turn is similar to what exists in the rest of the affluent world, aside from our US of A.
Some accepting and using VA healthcare may not have the Mercedes Benz they'd want for themselves, but it surely is no Yugo. It works. Plainly so. Simply so. It exists and is proof of single payer working. Make no mistakes over that truth.
__________FURTHER UPDATE___________
I expect most of those Republicans would as soon as not screw over VA benefits too, but realize it would be political suicide to try it. Kline, as a veteran can tell it as it is to any GOP fellow travelers who might doubt that the VA, and its single payer socialized medicine, is sacrosanct.
So, they simply avoid it as if it were inappropriate to all discussion, and they do that despite it being a glaring beacon of reason for any who think. They aim to delude by channeling the discussion away from what's there to prove them wrong. Bless their mendacity. They have to be that way. They are Republicans.
And, in passing, I would as soon see government bureaucrats "pull the plug on granny's life support," as seeing it as it now is being done by UnitedHealthcare bureaucrats, who everyone knows are far more heartless, enslaved as they are to their bonus plans - i.e., to their greed and shareholder greed, hand in hand against granny staying on the machines unless there proves to be more cash left in play to be funneled their way from her and family. I expect health insurer coverage restrictions and denials are a major cause of death in our nation.
Reporting seems to say so.