Representative Kevin Brady's Town Hall Meetings/Political Rallies

What's the saying, "If you keep doing what you're doing you'll keep getting what you got"?
I've now attended two of Representative Brady's Town Hall Meetings and watched two on video and I can tell you we're going to keep getting the same old song and dance from Representative Brady. I can attest to the fact that he has this presentation down to a fine art and the "plants" in the audience are dedicated. "Joe", who stands up and calls President Obama Hitler and a Nazi, sat on the row in front of me for both meetings I attended. There is always the 1) "socialized medicine is evil" plant , 2) "most uninsured are just irresponsible" plant [my friend who ate and exercised responsibly and had a heart attack at 44 and was dropped by his insurance company was responsible!], 3) "keep the Government out of my pocket" plant [by an elderly person on Medicare!], etc. At the Creighton Theater a woman on the front row stood up and said she would leave and give her seat to others wanting in, but first she wanted us to know that Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution said the Government could not legislate health care, and she turned and left. Fortunately, we Dems happened to have a copy of the Constitution with us, and healthcare is not mentioned in Article 1, Section 8 or any other part of the Constitution. However, it does state in Article 1, Section 8 and in the Preamble of the Constitution that Congress shall "provide for the general welfare of the United States."

When called upon at the Bells of Montgomery Town Hall meeting, I stated that Representative Brady had been in Congress many years, referred in his speech to 4 Republican Health Care Reform bills, and that his party had been in control of Washington for the last eight years, yet we don't have health care reform. I suggested that he go back to Washington and pass health care reform for ALL Americans. There were negative noises around the room as I spoke, but he asked them to allow dialog. And, of course, Representative Brady said he'd go back and pass health care reform, but not this bill. It's clear this "Mr. No" is for "status quo".

Also, after meeting with Congressman Brady on August 6, 2009 as a proponent of single payer health care and hearing his comments after our presentation ("So everyone at this table is for single payer and not for what is coming out of Washington"), I fear that saying I’m for single payer health care may be construed as being against the health care legislation coming out of Congress. That is NOT my intention. I support immediate health care reform, although I believe a single payer system is the most cost effective system and covers everyone. With our current health care system and the numbers of uninsured mounting, we cannot afford to wait another 10 – 15 years for reform. I suggest we not waste our time trying to carry dead weight with us as we head toward this worthy goal - Healthcare for ALL Americans.

Woodlands Township Meeting - 8/26/2009

First, since I did not report on the July 22nd Township Board Meeting, I want to bring to your attention a statistic of which I was not aware and that was presented by Jim Stiffler (a father whose daughter committed suicide). He said that Montgomery County is at the top for suicide in our State and nation per capita. That's sad and definitely important to know. He attributed it to intense peer pressure, etc. See Mr. Stiffler's report at http://video.thewoodlandstownship-tx.gov/ and click on this meeting date.

It seems the hottest topic at any Township meeting lately is "The Budget". And the hottest budget item is "Security" and how to fund additional police protection. Residents have made many suggestions and so have members of the Township Board including: 1) wait to update existing parks, 2) reduce lights on trees at Town Center, 3) privatize water taxis, 4) no new waterway songs (use old ones), 5) wait to build additions to Creekside Park, 6) wait to install new Town Center paths, 7) no ice rink next Christmas, 8) no horseback security at Mall (use real patrol personnel), 9) no tax abatements to 7 large companies now grandfathered, etc. Several residents have commented on the downturn in the economy and that the 3% increase in next year's budget is probably not realistic. So, the "Budget" was also the hottest topic at the August 26th Township Meeting. It will be interesting to see what gets left out and what gets left in. From what the Board Members stated in this meeting, they plan to find the money to fund the additional security needed to make citizens feel safe by cutting budget items and not increasing it. There were suggestions to lower and to raise the proposed tax rate, and it appears the Township Board has settled on a tax rate of $.328 per $100 of valuation. To view the entire meeting, go to http://video.thewoodlandstownship-tx.gov/ and click on this meeting date.

Magnolia Town Hall 8/27

Thanks to Marcie Rhodes of The Woodlands for sharing her account of the Kevin Brady Town Hall held at Magnolia High School:

I guess another politician just couldn't resist sharing the limelight, so Rob Eissler started off the Magnolia health care town hall meeting featuring Kevin Brady. Rob quoted "government of the people, by the people for the people"-- and said this is the "of" part. Maybe that's true, but if it were, I'd think there would actually be more intelligent discourse going on with intelligent questions about health care, and maybe even some intelligent answers. Once again, that's not what happened here.

But first, we started with the pledge of allegiance, the star spangled banner (sung wonderfully by members of the Magnolia H.S. Choir),and then the pledge of allegiance to Texas. That one threw quite a few people. As a PTA mom who has been at school enough times to learn it while the kids are doing it, I was glad I could complete it. I was amazed at how many people did not seem to know that our children must say this at school every day, along with the U.S. Pledge.

We got treated to a story about how Kevin and Rob go waaaay back, in the Chamber together. Am assuming Chamber of Commerce, and not a death chamber, but who knows. After the "damnation" of Ted Kennedy the night before in Conroe I was sure of nothing.

Now, mind you, all this had already taken up a bit of Mr. Brady's one hour meeting. I noted in my earlier rant regarding Conroe that he tries his best to make these meetings as short as possible. He cut the first Conroe meeting short by 10 minutes. Keeps people from actually being able to ask questions and get answers.

After Brady spotlighted his colorful chart that he is so very proud of, and told us we were a fine looking mob,-- good job at making political jabs AND being a smarmy politician at the same time-- he started in on the exact same show I'd seen the night before. The lady next to me in her tea party shirt chuckled when he started. I had told her prior to the meeting that he would put the chart up and then drop a large bunch of papers tied with a bow onto the floor and tell us how he'd received the bill at 3 minutes to midnight and was supposed to vote on it the next morning. I asked her and her group why hadn't Brady known about the bill before then, or been interested in it-- I would think some committees worked on it before it magically appeared. But some of the group said no way, that's NOT how a bill is crafted, with committees and all.

I told her how Brady would go on and tell us that we needed to do some more things like tort reform to help with health care costs. "Yeah! Tort reform!" she said. I asked if she knew we already had enacted tort reform in Texas several years ago. She didn't know that. Probably lots of people don't, but I swear it's true. I asked if her health care costs had gone down, insurance rates gone down, or if she was finding it easier to find a doctor because we'd already been told all that would happen after tort reform. I haven't seen it, and apparently she hadn't either. When Brady got to that part of his spiel she was urgently requesting me to call Brady out on the tort reform. Unfortunately, I was sitting with another pro health care Democrat who had already gotten to ask a question. No way he was going to call on any of us sitting around her then-- he knew we might be "the enemy". And there was a courageous man in an Obama cap right in front of us so he KNEW there might be some real questions coming from that area.

The first "questioner" was called upon and she stood up with a pad of writing and began to read a diatribe she had written about the czars that Obama has been appointing. I got to hear about how Cass Sunstein is an avowed communist. Is that why many of the czars don't get paid anywhere near as much as they'd make if they were working privately? Anyway, as in Conroe, the person holding the mic for questioners asked what I wanted to know-- was there a question on that pad somewhere? The lady said no, she just wanted to have her say. Anyway, the subject of the czars seemed to be a common focus of many of the people there. But, the rant didn't ask a question about this health care bill and Brady didn't give an answer linked to health care. Like the cap and trade tirade by an audience member later, it was just taking up time and keeping the subject away from health care. Couldn't we have town halls on cap and trade when that is a critical issue? But, as usual, maybe the point is diversion. Brady's good at it, and the people who get their talking points from Dick Armey and Steve Forbes are also getting skilled at it. Maybe they get their info from the Lewin group, whom Brady quoted once again. And once again, he didn't call on me when I put my hand up to try to point out that the Lewin group is owned by United Health Care, so their information might be....well, biased.

Wendy Melton, Yellow Dog Democrat, then got to ask a question. She had painted her nails red, was dressed for work, and was playing with her Blackberry, so I think Brady thought she didn't look like a Democrat. Too bad he couldn't see the tiny Obama necklace she had on. She noted that he had only said negative things about the bill so far-- wasn't there anything positive in it that can support a bipartisan effort for health care? Brady said he'd give coverage to people who are truly uninsured. (What does that mean? Some people just pretend they are uninsured?) And he'd "fix Medicare". I don't know what the problem is he'd fix, he didn't say of course. I was wondering why he'd bother anyway, since he told us in this meeting and the prior one that Medicare would be gone in 5 years. Which REALLY makes me wonder what those older people are going to do when they have to try to get private health insurance in 5 years. I would think that premiums for 65+ year olds would be sort of high. Maybe the insurance companies wouldn't cover these people at all. Like they might not cover soldiers, who are more likely than your average person to get hurt. Or their premiums, as for elderly people or anyone with preexisting conditions, would be exorbitant. Brady says this bill will "ration care". Private insurance companies already do that through premium costs, deductibles, denied claims, and caps. Good thing for the soldiers we have the V.A. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/8/27/772696/-Soldiers-arent-Communists.-Neither-is-their-medicine.

And of course Brady said no healthcare for illegals! At least he didn't go as far as the night before when he claimed that the bill will probably allow for illegals to get coverage. That's not in the bill. Maybe he went and read at least that one part. He still didn't say why the Republicans haven't addressed this health care problem during the time that they were in charge, even though he admits it's important.

Brady amazed me when he said that his party did not lead with integrity, so the American people sent them packing. So was it everyone in his party but him? Several of us, liberals and conservatives alike, noted that Brady would often refer to "Washington" and "them" as the bad guy. We were wondering if he knew that he IS part of "Washington" and "them"? Or was he confused with the state of Washington?

There weren't too many more questions from the main audience after that. Brady allowed a few questions from some high schoolers. I'm proud there were some young people in there, even though they were probably seeing a stage show rather than true public discourse. Many seemed interested, and that gives me hope. One stood up and said that he was the president of his class, and he thought they could probably handle the problems in the future. I'm extrapolating that he meant the problems Brady and many older people direly predict will come to these kids due to the health care bill. Guess they forget that many of those kids are uninsured, which might cause dire problems in itself. Another courageous young lady stood up and said that she had been taught that it was government by the people and for the people, but she wasn't seeing much happening FOR the people.

Finally, to restore my faith in the humanity of some of the crowd, one man stood up and said "Mr. Brady, the man with the Obama hat on has been trying to ask a question throughout the meeting. I don't think we'll agree with him, but he should have the right to speak." Obviously, this man was NOT one of the hand picked Brady people that mostly showed up for the Conroe meetings. Or people in Magnolia have better manners. And some of us DID agree with the guy in the Obama hat. And he asked a great question. His name is Manny, he was born in Cuba, has suffered waterboarding there and says it wasn't pleasant at all. Obviously, HE wasn't a communist. So he came to America and proudly became a citizen. Just like my dad's parents came from Germany and became proud citizens-- few of us can claim Mayflower roots, but I've noticed that people in these meetings forget that. Manny has been a good citizen and has been really trying to gather lots of information and study this health care bill. He pointed out that Brady spoke exclusively about the problems of the health care in England and Canada. Had Brady and others in Congress looked at the systems in other countries, like Germany and Japan? Brady finally sheepishly admitted they had and those systems did work well. But of course, they wouldn't work here because we're different than those countries. I think we're different from England and Canada too, but if Brady is confused about Washington, maybe he's confused about which country we are. We are the U.S.A., and we are the country that has the benefit of looking at all the systems (and there are quite a few to consider since we are the only major country without basic national health care), and then doing it the best. Most people in those meetings agreed we're the best. So let's have the best heath care system. And let's have it now.

Brady "town hall" meeting in Montgomery on 8/27/2009

Kevin Brady’s political rally in Montgomery Thursday morning highlighted a fact of our political system when he stated “We focus on the people who elected us.” And he has and he did and he will continue to do so. Thus saith the first commandment of Politics 101.

Why do I think it was a political rally rather than a town hall meeting? When Wally Wilkerson greets everyone at the door, when the introduction is a twenty minute melodramatic monologue of what is wrong with the proposed legislation, when six of the thirteen “questions” from the floor are cheerleading comments rather than questions, and when phrases like “bloodless coup”, “he should be impeached”, “this is socialized medicine”, and booing of unpopular questions exist, either it’s a political rally or my definition of a town hall meeting is wrong. But I did learn some interesting “facts” at this dog and pony show.

I learned that of the eleven counties in Mr. Brady’s congressional districts, nine are Democratic (gee Kevin, where are they?), two are Republican and that the Democratic counties agree with him. I learned that illegal immigration is a major impediment to universal health care and that we need more competition between insurance companies that can be achieved by allowing people to get coverage out of state but that’s not done because of state bureaucracy and the federal government (but not Kevin’s fault!). I learned that Medicare is going broke and the way to fix it is to pay doctors and hospitals more money. I learned that George Bush did a good job, but most importantly, I learned that the reason the problems were not solved over the last eight years when Republicans were in charge was because of Democrats and if Republicans are put back in charge they’ll fix it. I learned that Kevin Brady is a politician with ready excuses for doing nothing to solve critical problems. Businesses fire people for that. Montgomery County Republicans elect them.

Kevin Brady and most of his constituency have no desire to participate in formulation of a health plan. The message of the party of NO is “just say no” because they want to defeat any health plan proposed by any Democrat. That leaves the rest of us in Montgomery County with no voice in the crucial health care debate when Congress returns in September. Congressional Democrats need to forget Republicans like Brady and develop a budget positive or neutral health care plan that covers what we can afford while giving priority to children and working families. Pass it, implement it, and run on it in 2010. They need to focus on the people who elected them.

Brady ice cream social attracts hundreds to discuss healthcare Conroe Courier News Houston Community Newspapers Online - News Around Town

Brady ice cream social attracts hundreds to discuss healthcare Conroe Courier News Houston Community Newspapers Online - News Around Town

Thank you to all of the progressives who spoke truth to power at this event!

Woodlands Texas Commentary: Woodlands resident and national congressman Kevin Brady speaks out on the Health Care Bill in Conroe Townhall Meeting

Here is one account of the Conroe Town Hall Meeting. Photo Courtesy of woodlandscommentary.com

Woodlands Texas Commentary: Woodlands resident and national congressman Kevin Brady speaks out on the Health Care Bill in Conroe Townhall Meeting

Willis City Council Meeting

Willis City Council Meeting

August 18, 1009 -6:30 pm

The Willis City Council considered city business in their August meeting at the Willis City Hall. Mayor Leonard Reed and council members Josey Billnoske, John Lovelady, Anna Ross, Bill Van Alstyne, and Tamara Young and new City Manager Hector Forester considered the following items:

1. Held a first reading on an ordinance to prohibit solicitation of any drugs prohibited under the Texas safety code.
2. Approved the Willis Community Development Corporation plan and budget.
3. Appointed Mike Davis and Hector Forester to the Wills Community Development Board.
4. Appointed Thomas Billnoske, Sherman Griffin, Anna Ross, Josey Billnoske, and Paul Henderson to the Citizen’s Advisory Committee for City Traffic Signal Enforcement.
5. Increased contractor fees for the City of Willis from $24 to $40 per year.
6. Referred a recommendation to demolish a structure at 601 Young to the Building Standards Commission.
7. Changed the signatories to the city deposit account from the old city manager to the new city manager, Hector Forester.
8. Considered a request by CenterPoint Energy to increase utility rates by 8.3%

The CenterPoint Energy proposal elicited the most interest from the Council. CenterPoint staff presented their justification for the increase to Council and said they had three options.

1. Do nothing, in which case the rate increase would be automatic.
2. Approve the rate increase.
3. Deny the rate increase, in which case CenterPoint would appeal their decision to the State Railroad Commission.

Josey Billnoske said she didn’t want a rate increase. Council chose to suspend consideration of the CenterPoint proposal for 90 days.

Brady's Record

The newspaper of NO

The Courier editorialized today against a "Second Stimulus" package. It's a rather moot argument considering the White House has made it clear that there is no interest in another stimulus. However, that doesn't stop our favorite newspaper from taking on the issue anyway with typical ideological fervor.

"As Montgomery County residents contemplate the latest sour unemployment numbers, we doubt many are having warm feelings about that stimulus package passed earlier this year."

I would agree, and that might be because Republican Governor Rick Perry rejected the part of the stimulus that affected extension of unemployment benefits. First they rail against the stimulus, get away with rejecting a portion, then argue that it's not effective in the area that the rejected funds were meant to stimulate.

The ultimate paradox is the acknowledgment that Montgomery County is finally feeling the effects of the economic downturn, yet the stimulus should not be given a chance to succeed here. With only 10% of funds spent, The Courier feels it should be repealed.

http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2009/08/16/conroe_courier/opinion/edtaug16.txt

Young Democrats celebrate 1 year

The Young Democrats of Montgomery County had their monthly meeting last night and celebrated one year of existence. The group was formed during a meeting at the Fox and Hound on August of 2008, in the heat of one of the most exciting elections in recent times. Over the past year, the Young Democrats put in countless hours during the campaign, hosted phone banking for Obama, adopted a stretch of highway for cleanup, represented Montgomery County at conventions of the Texas Young Democrats and Young Democrats of America, and grew their mailing list to 67 members.

The group also had their annual election and re-elected the founding executive committee:

President - Michele De La Garza
Vice President - Dylan Osborne
Treasurer - Austin Stout
Secretary - Kimberly Parrish
Communications Director - Jesus Blickwede


















The next meeting of the YDMC will be held September 17 at 6pm @ Bucca di Beppo in The Woodlands.

Kevin Brady meets Rube Goldberg

Our very own Kevin Brady has become a sort of a celebrity in right-wing-nuttery world of late. The Congressman's staff has developed a "Flow Chart" that purports to demonstrate the health care system that is proposed by bills in Congress. It has spread like wildfire throughout the right-wing blogosphere and of course, Fixed News. Because the chart contains so many exaggerations that are misleading, the House Franking Committee initially refused to grant Brady and other representatives permission to distribute it via mail as official congressional correspondence. However, they are now allowing it to go out and I'm sure we'll all be seeing it in our mailboxes soon. Salon.com recently published an analysis of this hilarious prop:

Supposedly depicting how a new system would be organized, this drawing shows more than 50 multicolored boxes, circles and cartoon pictures, connected by red and blue arrow vectors. According to Rep. Kevin Brady, the Texas Republican who distributed it, the chart displays the "new levels of bureaucracy, agencies, organization and programs [that] will all be put directly between the patient and their healthcare."

That is simply a lie, as Brady surely knows, since none of the Obama administration's proposals or the Democratic bills would interpose any federal agency between patients and doctors -- or between consumers and insurers -- for those who are satisfied with their current plans. Examined closely, most of the items on the chart, including several Cabinet departments and federal agencies, as well as "the States" and "Consumers" and "Private Insurers," already exist, of course. It is hard to say what the GOP drawing can actually be said to show except that American healthcare is already complicated. Much more complicated than systems in other countries, such as France, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Japan, that rely on public as well as private insurance plans to achieve universal coverage.

Salon.com 7/17/2009

The chart accomplishes its goal. It provides the shock value needed to reinforce the beliefs of the hard right wingers and it scares the bejesus out of middle of the road voters who've yet to develop an opinion but are certainly feeling the anti-reform pressure in one of the reddest counties in Texas. It doesn't have to be accurate, it just needs to be complex-looking and colorful. Just enough to make the point that Obama and the Democrats are just salivating over new bureaucracies that will drain our deficit further in order to give jobs to poor government workers (Democrats) and healthcare to illegal immigrants (also Democrats voting fraudulently). The Republicans don't need a plan of their own, they just have to keep saying NO to ours.

The larger point is missed with this chart. We deal with bigger bureaucracies today! They're called private insurance companies and unlike the federal system, their bureaucracy is designed to deny coverage and make huge profits at the expense of the lives of their policy holders. The reality is that running any large enterprise isn't as simple as running a lemonade stand. It requires a variety of functions that work collaboratively together and provide checks and balances to ensure success. Do you think the organizational chart at General Electric consists of two boxes and a straight line? Of course not, because General Electric is a mega corporation and their ability to provide products and services is a complicated venture. Just like providing health insurance to millions of Americans will be a very complicated venture.

I'm sure if we saw the current system laid out in this fashion, it would be much more complicated. So instead of providing a real solution to what is an obvious problem, the Republicans cook up this chart to serve as a distraction and to misinform the public. Leading their way, proudly hoisting their banner of ignorance is Kevin Brady. Boy, am I proud!




Kevin Brady pushing his baby on Fixed News.