With the August recess already here for the House of Representatives and mere days away for the Senate, it's no surprise we've seen increased levels of fear-mongering and lying from the health insurance corporations and their cronies in Congress, the Republican Party. If you thought the racket was bad now, as the popular saying goes, "you ain't seen nothin' yet". We continue to hear the same old scare tactics - President Obama's health care plan is "socialized medicine", a public option will lead to rationing, it will put the health insurance companies out of business, etc., etc.

We all know that the above three scare tactics are complete bullshit. First, since conservatives are so quick to bash anything "socialized", then by that logic we should get rid of our public schools, police, fire, and ambulance depts., our sanitation services, our depts. of public works, and if your town is lucky enough to even have one, your local recreation center.

Second, newsflash - health care in our country is already rationed. If you are fortunate enough to be able to afford health care, then consider yourself lucky. But maybe not so much, especially if your provider chooses to discontinue your policy by finding a pre-existing condition. And we haven't even gotten to the 47 million (and growing) in our nation that don't have any health insurance.

And third, private health insurance companies deserve to go out of business. Private insurance companies have one allegiance, and that is to their shareholders. And in order to fulfill that allegiance (i.e. - profits), they will deny your medical claims even when you pay your monthly premiums on time. So while your family's rates are going up as much as 44%, Cigna's CEO is raking in $12 million this year. As Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman writes, the free market cannot cure health care.

Now that those talking points are debunked, the insurance lobby and their Republican stalwarts in Congress are pursuing even more drastic measures to kill health reform. But in doing so, they reveal their true nature as hypocrites, liars, and radicals.

Conservative economics hero Arthur Laffer displays his inability to grasp facts with this lovely gem:

If you like the Post Office and the Department of Motor Vehicles and you think they're run well, just wait till you see Medicare, Medicaid and health care done by the government.

Spare me a minute to stop laughing. See, the funny thing is that Medicare and Medicaid are already run by the government. And another funny thing is that compared to private insurance, people rate their experience with Medicare as "excellent" 2X more.

Since Republicans hate government-run health care so much, you think they would all vote in a heartbeat to eliminate it if they had the chance, right? Well, they did have that chance. In a brilliant political move, Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY) introduced an amendment that would eliminate Medicare to the proposed health care bill. And what did Republicans do? They voted to keep Medicare (again, this is already government-run!) Not to mention that all members of Congress (that includes you Republicans) receive their health care... wait for it... from the government! If single-payer health care is of good quality for our senior citizens and veterans - you know, the people we are supposed to care about the most - then it should be good enough for all of us.

I suppose I should also add ignorance to the list, based on this piece of news:

During the town hall, one conservative activist turns to his fellow attendees and asks them to raise their hands if they "oppose any form of socialized or government-run health care." Almost all the hands shot up. Rep Green quickly turned the question on the audience and asked, "How many of you have Medicare?" Nearly half the attendees raised their hands, failing to note the irony.

Republicans also have no unease lying about the public option and it's administrative costs.

And finally, when all else fails, Republicans clearly show that they have no problem embracing their inner radical. Demonstrating anger with your Congressperson is not inherently a wrong thing, especially when it comes to a literal life-and-death issue like health care. But there's a right way and a wrong way to do so. The right way would be to go to a town-hall and strongly voice your displeasures, but do so in a professional and civil manner. And the wrong way to do it? The radical Republican way.

“When you look at the fervor of some of these people who are all being whipped up by the right-wing talking heads on Fox, to me, you’re crossing a line,’ Connolly said. ‘They’re inciting people to riot with just total distortions of facts. They think we’re going to euthanize Grandma and the government is going to take over.”

It's time the Democrats strongly push back on this bullshit the Republicans are pushing about health care reform, because if you're always on the defensive, you're losing the war of the airwaves. Rather than always hearing the same milquetoast statements coming from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), I want the true progressives and liberals in Congress (and especially the Senate) to call out the insurance lobbyists and the Republicans for their bullshit peddling. As clearly demonstrated above, the iron curtain against health reform is solidifying, so we must fight back stronger than ever.