Disabled People Rally Against Cuts in Medicaid

[AllegroRondo]

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/missouristatenews/story/294C1D3FBFA7F92686256FF1001C5DAA?OpenDocument

JEFFERSON CITY-Eight people chained their wheelchairs Wednesday to a door leading into the Missouri House and demanded to see Gov. Matt Blunt during a protest against Medicaid cuts he signed into law this week.

Hundreds of disabled people, along with some of their attendants, marched around the Capitol peacefully. The situation turned tense when eight protesters threaded chains through their wheelchairs and locked themselves to a House chamber door.

"The disability community will not rest until every Missourian with a disability is able to live in the most integrated setting as an equal part of the community," said protest leader John Loyd of Rochester, N.Y., and formerly of Warrensburg, Mo.

Capitol police cut the chain within 15 minutes. But the protesters blocked the door for two and a half hours before leaving. Blunt did not meet with the group.

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Governor Blunt just looks worse every day. People will definitely remember this come election time.

[demgrrrll]

1. He really has made some ghastly decisions. He had his office renovated

because of an "asbestos" problem. They only found one tiny panel with a tiny bit of asbestos on the surface. This could have been dealt with without spending $100,000 for renovations. This renovation action placed side by side with his cuts in medical care make him look very very bad.

[Rainscents]

2. Is he a THUG???

[Loki]

3. He's more than a "thug"

Gov. Matt Blunt is the son of House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, who is currently under the same ethics cloud as his buddy Tom DeLay and involved in the Indian casino thuggery. He's a piece of work and I hope the good people of Missouri impeach his ass.

[Rainscents]

4. Thankyou!

[ikojo]

7. Are you kidding? Matt Blunt represents what Missouri

is, I mean the MO outside St Louis. It's a dog eat dog state where people only care for those in their family. Take the First Steps program that Baby Blunt (as he is known) wanted to eliminate, only when it affected the middle class suburbanites was there any media attention given to the effects of those cuts.

If it wasn't for St Louis, Missouri would blow chunks. Well it does blow chunks. The people who voted for Blunt deserve what they are getting. Moral values my tuches!

Most of the folks outside the urban areas are dirt poor and can barely make ends meet but in election after election they pull the lever for the Christian party, the Republicans and this is what they get. I say they deserve it.

[hadrons]

5. where Gary & Vivian Ruckel there ...

Medicaid cuts could carry a political cost, too

By KEVIN MURPHY

The Kansas City Star

GERSTER, Mo. — Gary Ruckel, like most rural Missourians, backed Matt Blunt for governor last fall and voted other Republicans into legislative seats.

Ruckel agreed with Blunt on issues such as gun control and gay marriage, but he was not considering a subject that hit much closer to home: medical care.

So when Blunt proposed cuts in Medicaid last month that could cost Ruckel and his wife, Vivian Ruckel, some services, the couple had second thoughts about backing Republicans.

www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/10929121.htm

A couple of dumbasses who put Blunt in power without thinking

[drduffy]

6. just some more

not too bright, easily duped, easily manipulated bigots. Except for the neocon manipulators, I bet the majority of the conservative right are actually on the LEFT side of the bell-shaped curve.

[ikojo]

8. OH but Mr Ruckel can rest peacefully knowing

those queers in St Louis are being kept in their place. He so deserves what is coming to him. I have ZERO pity for people who voted based on hatred of gays and lesbians.

[Megahurtz]

9. Good! The disabled need to rally against

:woohoo:
the Busheister's bogus Social Security Privitization too!

On the National level!

Has the Bush Klan ever considered how the disabled are going to survive their changes to our system???

[KamaAina]

10. It's about time!

Supposedly about half of us drank the Bush** Kool-Aid last Nov. It looks like people are catching on, so that won't happen again!

Getting hundreds of people with disabilities, many using wheelchairs, to Jeff City in the first place is no mean feat; it is located midway between St. Louis and KC, conveniently located to, um, cornfields. I wish we could organize something like that at our Capitol, which is right downtown!

:yourock:

[usregimechange]

11. Medicaid protesters descend on Capitol (MO cut program)

In a determined effort to plead their case, a loud and energetic rally of disabled Missourians thronged the Capitol halls Wednesday.

For several hours in the afternoon, a small but resolute group of advocates from the disability rights group ADAPT gathered outside the third floor House gallery, blocking the hallway.

A few temporarily chained themselves to a House chamber door to protest the cuts.

The chained protesters chanted "We want (Gov. Matt) Blunt," but the governor did not meet with them. Capitol Police used bolt cutters to unchain the protesters, who continued their sit-in for a couple more hours before voluntarily leaving.

http://www.newstribune.com/articles/2005/04/28/news_local/0428050002.txt

Republican Gov. Matt Blunt (Yes Roy Blunt's son) is cutting thousands of disabled off of Medicaid. They will also end the entire Medicaid program. Help us!

[usregimechange]

12. kick