Sunday, July 19, 2009

Russ Carnahan Townhall *UPDATED*


Earlier this weekend, StLToday.com ran a story announcing that Russ Carnahan (D-MO) will host a townhall style forum:
Monday’s forum will be from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the Student Center Building at Forest Park Community College.
Forest Park Community College is conveniently close to the demolition site formerly known as Rt 40, so if you're traveling from the west, plan accordingly. The college is on Oakland, but you'll want to turn down either Macklind or Highlander to find parking. The Student Center Building is located towards the center of the small urban campus. The college website has a map in PDF format.

I will be working with ATraditionalLifeLived.com's Michelle to provide live streamed coverage. I think there will be a couple of others helping as well. Check her site later tonight or first thing Monday (7/20/9) for the link. Here it is! From a citizen journalist perspective, this represents an interesting evolution from one-off individual coverage to ad hoc teams assembled on short notice to report the news of the day.

This is our tentative agenda:
  • 7:30AM Central - Conduct interviews with meeting attendees
  • 8:00AM Central - Russ's two hour townhall
  • 10:00AM Central - Post event interviews
I think there will be several bloggers out with there video cameras. I'd recommend picking a question or two to interview attendees about and drilling down on those.

I've seen a couple of questions that contained an obvious bias. The problem with that approach is that the person you're asking may reject the premise and therefore the question. Here's an example: Have you read the Obamacare bill or are you treating this like the stimulus bill? Sure, I agree with the sentiment, but you've gotta tighten it up: Have you read the healthcare bill? Russ will blather on about nothing without actually answering the question, but average Americans you ask will tell you no. You can follow-up with Russ: Yes or no... Have you read the bill? And with your average American: Should congressmen read the bill before voting on it?

Here are some questions I have about the healthcare bill. I plan to focus on #3 at Monday's event.
  1. Will Medicare be reformed first?
  2. What service level agreement is specified in the bill? Does it guarantee wait times under, say, a month for a routine visit? What about specialists?
  3. Does it wave sovereign immunity so that the government may be sued?
  4. Does it extend the right, reserved to the states or the people, of a civil trial by jury or does it impose new administrative law with it's own judicial system?
  5. Does it prioritize healthcare services such that members of Congress and their families are served last?
Update:

Cross Coverage

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The President and all Dems keep saying that we can keep our health care if we wish, but page 16 says that it will be outlawed.

"Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first effective date of coverage is on or after the first day" of the year the legislation becomes law.

Anonymous said...

Pg 425 of hc bill: end-of-life care training for seniors (or, "take the blue pill, granny!")

Greg said...

"broken health care"?? Are you kidding me??? Who is leaving this country to seek health care?? NO ONE! Who is coming to this country for health care?? EVERY ONE!!
No, it's not perfect. But it's obviously better than anywhere else. THE FEDERAL GOV'T NEEDS TO KEEP THEIR FRICKIN' HANDS OFF THIS ISSUE BECAUSE IT DOES NOT BELONG TO THEM!!!!
I heard an audio of your town hall meeting today. I think it was appropriate. To you, Congressman, I suggest you go get a real job and experience what we do.

Greg said...

And I'm not afraid to identify myself.