03.22.10
Schuylkill County hicktown ‘D’ votes ‘no’
Unsurprisingly, Democratic Congressman Tim Holden — who represents the old hometown of DD, Pine Grove in Schuylkill County, voted ‘no’ on healthcare reform.
To be elected as a “Democrat” in Schuylkill County, two things must always occur. You have to be a Republican under the thin layer of cover and the actual GOP man or woman running against you must either be ineffective or have the image of a criminal.
Schuylkill County is solidy GOP, demographically old white and getting older, so the primary narrative would have been the one transmitted by the party and Fox News: The blacks, kids and other miscellaneous underserving leeches are going to get your piece of the healthcare pie.
The Pottsville Republican, the newspaper in the county seat, didn’t even run the healthcare story as top news on its website.
There was, however, this:
The health care overhaul bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives Sunday night will impact Schuylkill County’s health care system possibly with cuts in Medicare, the Schuylkill Health System’s president and chief operating officer said after the vote.
“It’s obviously hard to tell exactly what is in the bill,” John E. Simodejka said, adding the bill will have an impact on county health care beginning in October.
“All health care is local,” Simodejka said. “However, Schuylkill County has a higher percentage of the population on Medicare and health care providers will see a greater impact than other areas. We will see Medicare cuts as a provider and will have to plan for reductions in payment” …
[Congressman Tim Holden] said President Obama called him Thursday and he gave the president his reasons why he is against the bill.
In a recent story in The Republican-Herald, Holden said the Senate bill does not address the concerns that lead to his “no” vote in November.
Holden said the Senate bill’s provisions against federal funding for abortions are weaker than those in the House bill, another deal breaker for his support.
However, Obama indicated Sunday he would issue an executive order preventing the spending of federal money for abortions.
On March 16, about 10 people, a mixture of local residents and out-of-the-area members of the Pennsylvania Health Access Network, a coalition of groups that advocates for health care reform, protested at Holden’s office.
In the valley over
The Lehigh Valley Biblical Anti-Union ex-Union Man Grandpap is, naturally, Old Testament in the way only he can be.
It’s the triumph of Darwinism, evolution, secular humanism and atheism, all rolled into one.
People will be “dispatched by pill.”
Lots of the sky has turned the color of sack cloth-style preaching.