Support of health-care bill urged at rally
If the public is clamoring for health-care reform, it wasn't evident at a rally yesterday across from St. John's Church in Richmond.
About 50 people attended the rally to urge three on-the-fence members of the Virginia congressional delegation to get behind a health-care bill that has been adopted by a House of Representatives committee.
Jason Bane, an organizer for the Service Employees International Union who promoted the "Change That Works" event as "a huge rally," said "the message is more important than the size of the crowd."
At the conclusion of the rally in Patrick Henry Park, many of those present dialed the phone numbers of Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., and Reps. Tom Perriello, D-5th, and Glenn Nye, D-2nd. Bane described their stance on the federal bill as "squishy."
No one was echoing Patrick Henry's famous call for "liberty or death," but they were adamant in their demands for affordable health care in the United States.
"It is a moral imperative," said Lauren Wray, a small-business owner in Richmond who said she is struggling to keep her business alive because of the family's unpaid medical bills.
Del. Joseph D. Morrissey, D-Henrico, the only politician present, said people are paying too much money for health care and not enough are getting it. As he travels about the 74th District, health care is the No. 1 topic on people's minds, he said.
The rally was one of several held across the state yesterday to promote a government health-care plan a day after Congress introduced the reform legislation.
Morrissey said people also should assume some responsibility for their own health. He urged more exercise.
Dr. Ken Brantley, a Richmond optometrist, said one of the reasons he attended the rally is because a private insurer denied his wife health insurance -- she is pregnant and that is considered a pre-existing condition.
Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or
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Reader Reactions
Blaine: ACORN IS a ‘horrible communist/socialist Destroyer of Worlds’. They bear an eerie resemblance to Noriega’s ‘Truth Battalions’ that ended up intimidating and beating political opponents in Panama. They remind me of the Iranian Basij doing. the same. Fine, but they don’t need MY money to do their dirty work. Why is tax money laundered through ACORN in New Orleans in the identical building that houses a SEIU headquarters? If ‘many community organizers don’t receive a salary’ for ‘community organizing’, then what DO they receive a salary for - and from who? As for ‘im-proving communities’, since when did ‘community organizers’ corner the market on that? Seems to me there’s been a ‘whole lotta community organizin’ goin’ on’ for close to 2 generations and all we have gotten for it is systemic social dysfunction in the ‘communities’ that have been ‘organized’. Funny thing, it might have something to do with the very fact that they are not interested in ‘profit’, but in political and social control. Lastly, since you and so many others don’t bother ‘wasting your time’ listening to anyone but your own inflated sense of self-righteousness, you will continue to go right on driving the ‘communities’ you ‘care’ about into the ground and the country along with it. That’s not opinion. Put on your Kevlar vest and take a stroll through the ‘communities’ you have created.
Good question, VaGentleman, but I have one that perhaps you can clarify for me: since when do employers pay income tax on payroll? The payroll deduction for business is a major COST of doing business that they’re allowed to deduct from their taxable income, or have things changed to the point that the more an employer pays means the employer pays higher income taxes? If that’s the case then I suppose none of us will be getting a raise anytime soon.
Oh,that’s right, Dave. I completely forgot about ACORN, that horrible communist/socialist Destroyer of Worlds. I didn’t say Mr. Bane doesn’t receive a salary, if fact I said it’s probable that he does. I did say that many community organizers don’t receive a salary because they’re often more interested in improving their communities than in making a profit, and that my friend IS true. Try it sometime, you might learn something. And frankly, “cozy relationship” is far too much of a generalization to actually mean anything, but I’m sure you’re well aware of that since you offer no evidence to the contrary. So you actually believe the SEIU gets the vast majority of its money from ACORN rather than its union members dues? That’s rather simplistic, isn’t it?
So yes your accusations stand, but only on the shoulders of the uninformed. And of course union members don’t work for free! If they did did why the need for a union? But I’ve said enough; no point in wasting my time arguing with those who already have their mind made up, with or without actual thought taking place first.
Blaine: So what’s up with the SEIU’s cozy relationship with ACORN? Where’s ACORN get IT’S money? My accusations stand. I doubt Mr. Bane ‘organized’ this out of the goodness of his heart. After all, union members don’t work for free do they?
Two questions: will Mr. Morrissey pay the additional income tax this health care bill will impose on my health insurance since it becomes “income” and will the national media poke as much fun at these demonstrators as was poked at those who organized and attended the Tea Parties?
Dave,
Does Mr. Bane receive a salary? The article doesn’t report that since it isn’t relevant to the issue at hand. Many organizers don’t receive salaries, but if he does (which is probable) then why wouldn’t SIEU pay?
As for who “fills their coffers”, I’ll just take a wild guess and say it would be the 100s of thousands or millions of union members through the union dues they pay. I’m not aware of any instance of the Federal government paying anyone’s union dues but if you are under that impression please enlighthen the union members as I’m sure they will be thrilled to no longer have to have those deductions taken from their paychecks!
Also, I’m pretty sure no Federal taxpayer dollars were spent on this rally, an union-sponsored event, but again, you may have access to information the rest of us don’t.
By the way, there is nothing “partisan” about a group of citizens gathering to show support for or against a bill before congress; that is, after all, the American way.
Unless I’ve forgotten my American History courses as far back as elementary school then the type of gathering you object to is actually what this nation was founded on.
Only one who is truly partisan sees partisanship in the actions of anyone who disagrees with one’s own views.
It’s funny how Congress excludes themselves from most of the garbage bills they shell out including this one.
“Do as I say, not as I do”
Who pays Mr. Bane’s salary? SEIU? Who fills their coffers? It’s nice to know with folks scrambling to make ends meet our government can afford to shell out tax funds for partisan political rallies. Gosh, people could pay medical insurance premiums if they didn’t have to pay all the ‘cr..p’ the government makes them pay for.
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