Media must step up and inform about health care legislation
This summer, I’ve spent my fair share of time reading complicated legislation that frequently does not make sense. There are thousands of pages with details about tax, regulation and service changes that will impact health care service, quality and cost. I challenge the media to tell us what’s in the bills.
The Senate will be voting on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET – when nobody is watching – to bring the health care vote to the floor. They need 60 votes to do so, and it will be close.
That’s about 30 hours from now, and The Hartford Courant has nothing, absolutely nothing, on the home page (see image) of their Web site providing readers any information about the legislation.
Sure, there are some prominent news outlets who are covering details (see links below), but most local coverage is lacking. I’m all fine with calling and writing the congress-critters and giving those who represent you a piece of your mind (be nice), but we need to do more.
We must get informed and pass good information – not tin-foil hat Internet anagram hysteria – to our friends, neighbors and families and encourage them to ask the local media outlets to do their job and have reporters tell us what is in the legislation and how it will change health care.
General statements and talking points are not enough. What will change immediately and what will the downstream impact of health care legislation be? The media should be telling us.
Call the Hartford Courant, call the Ackley World Journal in Iowa, write the Daytona Beach News Journal, call WFSB in Hartford, call ABC 7 News in San Francisco – who also has nothing on their home page on health care – and ask them … do you have reporters reviewing the health care legislation and determinine what changes will occur? Ask them! It’s their job!
Within the last 24 hours, unpaid bloggers like the SoundOffSister and myself have written two stories – with a third on the way – detailing some specifics of only a few pages of Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) 2,000-plus page legislation. The SoundOffSister was also on the air this morning with Jim during the first hour of Sound Off Connecticut providing more unearthed details.
James C. Capretta over at National Review Online details Medicare cuts, tax increases and a myriad of increased spending on current federal programs.
John Fund reminds us of payoffs to ensure a yes vote which I wrote about this morning. These calculation fixes are pure bribery and must be stopped.
Malkin has a list of five specific bribes included in the Senate legislation. The LA Times is happy to report a financial boost for the state of California – more calculation fixes.
Here is a list of 17 tax increases included in the legislation over at Americans for Tax Reform.
So, are your friends, family, co-workers and neighbors even interested in what is in the health care legislation? Will they take the time to search out and read specific reviews detailing passages and pages of the legislation?
Maybe they just want their free sh%t? What do you want?
1 Comment
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Oh come on, Steve! With truly important stories, like Levi Johnston baring himself for porn mags and Oprah deciding to settle down with her billions, where is the time to cover boring stuff like this? They have to crush the threat of Palin, don't you know? Sarcasm off….
Only a few papers like the WSJ and the Waterbury RepAm are worth the paper they are written on. I refuse to buy the Springfield "Republican" due to its palpable leftward reporting. The Boston Globe or the NYTimes? Forget it. Not even for free.