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Democrats getting an earful on health care during recess (A Minnesota Angle on Things)
Minneapolis StarTribune (aka The Red Star) ^ | 8/06/09 | Mark Brunswick/Eric Roper - Staff Reporters

Posted on 08/06/2009 11:06:53 AM PDT by MplsSteve

Farmfest is typically a genial event -- a stop elected and aspiring officials consider an easy political must-do.

But at this year's gathering in rural Redwood Falls, as First District U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., put in an appearance, an audience member declared loudly that plans for national health reform were a "step toward communism."

Walz, a veteran, shot back: "I didn't spend 24 years in the military to be called a Communist, I can tell you that."

A similarly harsh reception confronted Fifth District Rep. Keith Ellison, when he struggled for control of the microphone at what should have been a friendly meeting on health care reform at a north Minneapolis clinic.

Fourth District Rep. Betty McCollum felt the wrath from both ends of the spectrum at a Highland Park get-together, when one participant questioned why they couldn't get single-payer health care while another bluntly told McCollum: "I don't trust you, I don't trust the Republicans, I don't trust Democrats, I don't trust conservatives, liberals, or politicians with my health care. I trust two people, that's me and my doctor."

Concerns over the pace and breadth of health care reform have birthed a fiery wave of activism during the congressional recess as fearful citizens make their voices heard with resounding vigor.

Across the country, congressional Democrats are being hammered by angry groups of protesters showing up at normally low-energy forums. Democrats suspect a well-organized effort, not a grass-roots uprising. Republicans say the concerns are genuine and the anger is real.

(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Minnesota
KEYWORDS: 111th; angrymob; healthcare; townhallmeeting; townhalls; townmeetings
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This article is not too different from other ones that have been posted here. But I decided to post it to give FReepers a feel as to what's ahppening here in Minnesota.

And yes, there are Minnesotans who are making themselves heard on the healthcare issue!

As I read the article, I found the retort by Rep Tim Walz to be disingenuous. Tim, no one called you a Communist. The person who spoke of the healthcare plan called it communistic.

If you can't figure out the difference, maybe you shouldn't be in a leadership position as you are.

Comments or opinions - anyone?

1 posted on 08/06/2009 11:06:54 AM PDT by MplsSteve
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To: NorthWoody; Manic_Episode; mikethevike; coder2; AmericanChef; Reaganesque; ER Doc; lesser_satan; ...

WELCOME TO FREE REPUBLIC’S MINNESOTA PING LIST!

126 MEMBERS AND GROWING...!

FREEPMAIL ME IF YOU WANT ON OR OFF THIS LIST!


2 posted on 08/06/2009 11:08:06 AM PDT by MplsSteve
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To: MplsSteve

And it is just now August 6. It’s going to be a long, hot August for the CongressCritters.


3 posted on 08/06/2009 11:09:00 AM PDT by abb ("What ISN'T in the news is often more important than what IS." Ed Biersmith, 1942 -)
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To: MplsSteve

BTW, well underway on this one.

http://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Tribune-Great-American-Newspaper/dp/0528818260
Chicago Tribune: The Rise of a Great American Newspaper
by Lloyd Wendt


4 posted on 08/06/2009 11:11:51 AM PDT by abb ("What ISN'T in the news is often more important than what IS." Ed Biersmith, 1942 -)
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To: MplsSteve

I would like to have been a fly on the wall during the meeting headed by Pelosi to the Democrats in Congress before recess. She put the fear in them, now they are representing Pelosi.

These people need to be defeated, they do not represent their districts or their constituents. They left their gonads in Nancy’s office. They don’t need them anymore.


5 posted on 08/06/2009 11:12:47 AM PDT by nj patriot (Gore is beyond help.... Snakes in the head.)
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To: MplsSteve
Technology may have outstripped government-controlled media and government-school propaganda, allowing America's ordinary citizens--"We, the People"--using common sense and technology, to figure out that their freedom and liberty are threatened. That's what the so-called Tea Parties are demonstrating. Even Seniors (AARP members) use the Internet and are becoming knowledgeable and vocal about violations of their freedom.

By doing so, those who wish to enslave us through accumulating all power in Washington are meeting strong and unexpected resistance to their massive power grab. This is what the Founders intended when they structured a government (Constitution) for a free people. It required a vigilant and informed electorate.

The following essay, reprinted with permission, is from a 1987 book entitled, "Our Ageless Constitution."

An Enlightened, Committed People Who Understand The Principles Of Our Constitution

- The Most Effective Means Of Preserving Liberty

"Although all men are born free, slavery has been the general lot of the human race. Ignorant - they have been cheated; asleep - they have been surprised; divided - the yoke has been forced upon them. But what is the lesson? ...the people ought to be enlightened, to be awakened, to be united, that after establishing a government they should watch over it.... It is universally admitted that a well-instructed people alone can be permanently free." James Madison

"America's Constitution is the means by which knowledgeable and free people, capable of self-government, can bind and control their elected representatives in government. In order to remain free, the Founders said, the people themselves must clearly understand the ideas and principles upon which their Constitu­tional government is based. Through such understanding, they will be able to prevent those in power from eroding their Constitutional protections.

"The Founders established schools and seminaries for the distinct purpose of instilling in youth the lessons of history and the ideas of liberty. And, in their day, they were successful. Tocqueville, eminent French jurist, traveled America and in his 1830's work, DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, wrote:

".every citizen ... is taught . the doctrines and the evidences of his religion, the history of his country, and the leading features of its Constitution ... it is extremely rare to find a man imperfectly acquainted with all these things, and a person wholly ignorant of them is a sort of phenomenon."

"On the frontier, he noted that "...no sort of comparison can be drawn between the pioneer and the dwelling that shelters him.... He wears the dress and speaks the language of the cities; he is acquainted with the past, curious about the future, and ready for argument about the present.... I do not think that so much intellectual activity exists in the most enlightened and populous districts of France' " He continued, "It cannot be doubted that in the United States the instruction of the people powerfully contri­butes to the support of the democratic republic; and such must always be the case...where the instruction which enlightens the understanding is not separated from the moral education.."

"Possessing a clear understanding of the failure of previous civilizations to achieve and sustain freedom for individuals, our forefathers discovered some timeless truths about human nature, the struggle for individual liberty, the human tendency toward abuse of power, and the means for curbing that tendency through Constitutional self-government. Jefferson's Bill For The More General Diffusion Of Knowledge For Virginia declared:

"...experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms (of government), those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny; and it is believed that the most effectual means of preventing this would be, to illuminate...the minds of the people...to give them knowledge of those facts, which history exhibiteth. History, by apprizing them of the past, will enable them to judge of the future...it will qualify them judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views.."

"Education was not perceived by the Founders to be a mere process for teaching basic skills. It was much, much more. Educa­tion included the very process by which the people of America would understand and be able to preserve their liberty and secure their Creator-endowed rights. Understanding the nature and origin of their rights and the means of preserving them, the people would be capable of self government, for they would recognize any threats to liberty and "nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud." (Adams)

 


6 posted on 08/06/2009 11:14:25 AM PDT by loveliberty2
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To: nj patriot
These politicians (both parties) need to be reminded of three simple facts:

1. Obama, Pelosi, and Reid did not elect them.
2. Obama, Pelosi, and Reid do not pay their salaries.
3. Obama, Pelosi, and Reid do not live in their districts.

We need signs, posters, and banners at these meetings for them to see stating these facts. They do not need/should not cave into Obama, Pelosi and Reid!

7 posted on 08/06/2009 11:16:35 AM PDT by CitizenM ("An excuse is worse than an lie, because an excuse is a lie hidden." Pope John Paul, II)
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To: MplsSteve

Tactical Timmy Walz was a REMF in the rear with the gear...
and he’s a socialist.


8 posted on 08/06/2009 11:17:09 AM PDT by WOBBLY BOB (ACORN:American Corruption for Obama Right Now)
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To: MplsSteve
If you don't like appellation “Communist,” don't act like one.
9 posted on 08/06/2009 11:18:46 AM PDT by Lion Den Dan
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To: MplsSteve

Any moron politician who backs this pile of crap healthcare bill is going to be verbally assaulted! YOU CAN’Y STOP IT!....PEOPLE ARE PISSED!


10 posted on 08/06/2009 11:19:18 AM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: CitizenM

Here is Hillary screeching that ‘dissent is patriotic!’....... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJxmpTMGhU0

Of course she said this when George Bush was POTUS. I wonder is she still feels the same way now that the ‘dissent’ is being directed at the people who took over power in Washington DC.


11 posted on 08/06/2009 11:19:26 AM PDT by milwguy (........)
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To: MplsSteve
Rush brought up a good point: Waht, exactly IS the Obama Health Care Plan? I just did a search and I CAN'T FIND IT. There are statements of ideals and principles, but no proposal OF HOW IT WOULD WORK.

If anyone knows where I can see the Obama Plan, please correct me and let me know.

12 posted on 08/06/2009 11:20:02 AM PDT by cookcounty
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To: abb

Obama Wants to Eliminate Private Insurance (video)

This shocking video has Obama advocating a single payer(socialized) health care plan. He says it will take a few years to accomplish this. These statements make a lie of what he is currently saying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-bY92mcOdk&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebluegrasspundit%2Ecom%2F2009%2F08%2Fobama%2Dwants%2Dto%2Deliminate%2Dprivate%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded

From the video:

“I would hope that we set up a system that allows those who can go through their employer to access a federal system or a state pool of some sort. But I don’t think we’re going to be able to eliminate employer coverage immediately. There’s going to be potentially some transition process. I can envision a decade out or fifteen years out or 20 out. “

maybe we need to take a tape of this for the masses to
hear...


13 posted on 08/06/2009 11:20:37 AM PDT by WOBBLY BOB (ACORN:American Corruption for Obama Right Now)
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To: MplsSteve
Walz, a veteran, shot back: "I didn't spend 24 years in the military to be called a Communist, I can tell you that."

There is no amount of good acts that will give you a free pass on evil for the rest of your life. If he doen't want to be associated with Communism, he should stop voting to support it.

14 posted on 08/06/2009 11:21:29 AM PDT by 3niner (When Obama succeeds, America fails.)
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To: milwguy

Thank you. I have been thinking about that and am glad you posted it. Someone on one of the FOX shows should be sent this and put it on the air after they report about how Americans are being critized now by Pelosi, Obama, Reid, et al.


15 posted on 08/06/2009 11:22:46 AM PDT by CitizenM ("An excuse is worse than an lie, because an excuse is a lie hidden." Pope John Paul, II)
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To: MplsSteve
Make no mistake, people. This anger is encouraging, but ultimately, DeathCare is going to be passed via "reconciliation" in the dead of night, probably just before a long holiday weekend.

SourOne values his power over Middle Earth more than anything else.

However, when (not if) it passes, that same anger will become white-hot fury.

16 posted on 08/06/2009 11:25:46 AM PDT by kromike
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To: CitizenM

That youtube should be sent to all conservative outlets, Drudge, Rush, local talk shows, etc. It is the perfect rebuttal to the Dem talking points about mobs.


17 posted on 08/06/2009 11:26:17 AM PDT by milwguy (........)
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To: nj patriot

thats exactly it. and anyone going to one of these townhalls has to say,”you represent your party,not the people that elected you”


18 posted on 08/06/2009 11:28:11 AM PDT by wiggen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WayzmX0WQvg)
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To: WOBBLY BOB

You must immediately report yourself to flag@whitehouse.gov. Sorry.


19 posted on 08/06/2009 11:35:36 AM PDT by NEMDF
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To: MplsSteve

“Tim, no one called you a Communist.”

usually when people have a knee jerk reaction like that they really are what the purport not to be


20 posted on 08/06/2009 11:41:03 AM PDT by DM1
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