Audacity of the Rich

I listen to This American Life every weekend and if I miss it I download the podcast. It's always a great show. I laugh, I cry, it's better than Cats. I was listening this weekend to their show about True Urban Legends and was riveted when I heard the host, Ira Glass, interviewing a Republican hopeful in the California gubernatorial race, Steve Poizner. Poizner is a multimillionaire. He made his fortune in Silicon Valley. He recently wrote a book about his experience as a teacher in a San Jose High School titled Mount Pleasant. In the book Poizner characterizes the school, neighborhood, students as "inner city." Here is a transcript from the beginning of the story, on This American Life:

Steve Poizner: [reading] I passed nearby my neighborhood French bakery and the local Ferrari
dealership.

Ira Glass: This is Steve Poizner, reading from the book he wrote about this.

Steve Poizner: [reading] Several miles and a couple of highways later I took the Capital
Expressway exit and drove into what felt like another planet. Signs advertising janitorial supply
stores and taquerías. Exhaust hung over 10 lanes of inner city traffic; yellowing, weedy gardens
fronted many of the homes, as did driveways marred by large oil spots or broken down cars.

Ira Glass: When he sees the sound walls that separate California homes from the highway he asks, "were
they keeping out the city's grit and noise, or hiding profoundly sad lives?"

He's allowed to teach one U.S. government class for one semester, under another teacher's supervision.
What he finds in the school are leaky roofs, hardened, unresponsive students, gangs and violence, a dropout
rate twice the national average. He worries that one student is going to punch him and later that this student
and his thug friends are going to push him up against a wall. He wonders if the kids are "too busy ducking
bullets to consider their careers?" At the end of his first visit to school, he's relieved to find his Lexus still
in the parking lot where he left it.

sounds pretty grim but the people who live in the neighborhood, the teachers, and Ira Glass (who reported on the Education Beat for NPR) all think Mount Pleasant is a typical middle class school in a typical middle class neighborhood... And they are pissed at how Poizner characterized them. After hearing the story I remember two incidences from my childhood. They are not really related to the TAL story about True Urban Legends but they are about class distinction, growing up on the other side of the tracks, and how the rich see the poor.


I grew up in a town of about 5000 people, surround by cornfields, in the middle of Indiana. We had one junior high, a middle school, on the other side of town. It was about a two mile walk so I rode the bus. I lived in a typical middle class neighborhood and the bus that served my side of town picked up kids from two other neighborhoods in the area. About halfway through my 6th grade year the bus driver, Mr. Smiley, told us that we were going to start picking up kids from Brendan Wood too. Brendan Wood was an upper middle class neighborhood were doctors and lawyers lived. It was nice but not as nice as the Ulen Country Club on the other side of the golf course. My hometown was very segregated according to class and the fact that the country club, which was surround by the town, was an independent town unto itself made matters worse.

Mr. Smiley told us that because he would be picking up the Brendan Wood kids after us we had to reserve the first three rows of seats for them. We all had to crowd in the back of the bus while he made his way to the upper middle class neighborhood on the other side of town. On the way home from school we stopped in Brendan Wood first and every student was dropped off right in front of their door. There were only 9-12 kids from Brendan Wood and they sat comfortably in the first three rows and we could not move up until the last Brendan Wood kid left. After dropping off the snobs we circled through Northfield, a working class neighborhood, making several stops. I got off at the elementary school and walked the six blocks home.

Surprisingly, I didn't tell my parents about having to sit in the back of the bus that is until the school board consolidated all of the stops in three working class neighborhoods into one stop. All of the kids from Northfield, Hoosier Acres, and West Maplewood had to gather in front of the elementary school while Brendan Wood kids practically had door to door service. I told my parents and they talked to other parents but nothing happened. I was sure that the kids from Brendan Wood told their parents stories about how awful the other kids were and how frightened they were about riding the bus with us. Riding in the back of the bus continued until I moved on to High School. The High School was walking distance to my house so problem solved...

The second story deals with picking up my brother from a birthday party. I'm 10 years older than my youngest brother. When I got my license my parents pressured me into picking up my brother from time to time... I had a 1972 Dodge Dart and even in the 80's it was a pretty lame car. My brother had befriended one of the kids in the Country Club and when I arrived to pick him up the kid's dad was outside at the drive waving riff raff away. He told me that I had to drive around to the service entrance to pick up my brother. He wouldn't even let me stop my car in front of his house. I had to exit the country club and drive the county road around the back side to the service drive to pick up my own brother...

I know many people had it much worse. In the context of the racial segregation and hate crimes perpetrated in the country my experiences are laughable. I just wanted to point out that rich folk don't always have both feet in reality. I think Steve Poizner is a good example. What could he possible learn from teaching one semester at a public high school and how could he mis-characterize the situation so badly? When McCain, during the 2008 Presidential Election, couldn't remember the number of houses he had that, to me, was typical of people who are out of touch with reality. President Bush, in the late 80's, marveled at the bar code scan reader in a grocery store. He had never experienced the joys of shopping for his own food. To even imagine that people like Bush Sr., John McCain, or Steve Poizner have even the slightest inkling of what everyday Americans face is strangely unimaginable. Maybe that is the source of populist anger... Maybe we have been electing people who have no idea how we live.

Government Borrows 57¢ of Every Dollar Spent in 2009

Bill Maher was on a roll the other night in his New Rules. He donned a tri-corner hat and became a tea bagger for the evening. In Maher's monologue he claims we borrow 61¢ for every dollar spent (it's actually only 57¢ but what's a few pennies). Last year about 35¢ of every dollar was spent on the military and about 20¢ of every dollar was spent on health care. Of the remaining 45¢, 10¢ was for government and 8¢ was for interest on the national debt. The remaining 27¢ goes to food, income and labor security, Housing, environment and energy science, education, and transportation. Everyone complains about entitlements but that's a small portion of the debt.

Remember, 57¢ of every dollar spent was borrowed and 34¢ came from income tax. The remaining 9¢ came from corporate tax, excise tax, and estate tax. Wow corporations get off cheap!

The top marginal tax rate for an individual making over $372,000.00 is about 35%. In Eisenhower's day the top marginal tax rate for the wealthiest Americans was 91%. Throughout the 70's it was 70% and Reagan dropped it to 50%. By the last year of the Reagan presidency it dropped to 28%. Clinton took it back to 39% and of course Bush dropped it to 38% and then 35%.

The big story is not really where the money comes from but that 35% of our money pays for the military. Supporting our empire, the war on terror, weapons of war that are out of date, nuclear stockpiles, 500,000 troops around the world. As Bill Maher put it the military spending is really a public works project that puts what FDR did to shame.

Goldman? Fraud? Really?

When the I heard the story about the Magnatar trade in which a hedge fund selected risking investments to create a CDO, collateralized debt obligation, backed by subprime mortgages and then hedged against the CDO basically saying that if the CDO fails we will win both ways; I couldn't believe it. Propublica and This American Life broke a story that is at the heart of the Financial Crisis. In the Magnatar story we hear how a hedge fund pushed for the creation of such risky investments and bet against those same risky investments. In the This American Life story they claim that by pushing for these type of investment Magnatar basically helped the market overheat. Unfortunately the banks didn't disclose to the investors that the company that picked thw risky mortgages to bundle into the CDO also was betting against the CDO. Actually the Wall Street Journal broke the story in 2007 but this type of activity on Wall Street apparently does not raise eyebrows. Wall Street types just want to know how they can get in on the action...

This is basically what the SEC to accusing Goldman Sachs of doing. Goldman is accused of failing disclose to investors that a hedge fund helped stock a Goldman CDO and then bet against it.

Washington, D.C., April 16, 2010 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Goldman, Sachs & Co. and one of its vice presidents for defrauding investors by misstating and omitting key facts about a financial product tied to subprime mortgages as the U.S. housing market was beginning to falter.

The SEC alleges that Goldman Sachs structured and marketed a synthetic (CDO) that hinged on the performance of subprime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). Goldman Sachs failed to disclose to investors vital information about the CDO, in particular the role that a major hedge fund played in the portfolio selection process and the fact that the hedge fund had taken a short position against the CDO.

"The product was new and complex but the deception and conflicts are old and simple," said Robert Khuzami, Director of the Division of Enforcement. "Goldman wrongly permitted a client that was betting against the mortgage market to heavily influence which mortgage securities to include in an investment portfolio, while telling other investors that the securities were selected by an independent, objective third party."

Goldman pointed out that what they did is quite similar to what other major investment banks seem to have done [1] with the hedge fund Magnetar. (Goldman denies [2] that its investments were built to fail. Magnetar also denies [3] it was betting against CDOs it helped create.

When I heard the Goldman story I thought it was about Magnatar but SEC filing is about another fraud case entirely but build on the same premise. Wow! Gambling is not just for Vegas anymore and when you have guys like this who needs the mafia?

Really?

Apparently Barack Hussein Obama is planning a jihad against the US. That's why the logo for his summit on securing lose nuclear material looks EXACTLY like Islamic flags, and logos. The Teabaggers were right. He is a terrorist.

ASICS 2010 Global Advertising Campaign (HD)

I don't watch commercials that much because of the great and glorious TiVo but this one caught my eye. Interesting use of type...

Inside Job

An excellent story about the financial crisis, it's genesis, and the players. Listen and pass it on to everyone you know.

Inside Job

Why is Net Neutrality Important

In her 4/11/10 Op-Ed piece in the New York Times, Susan Crawford outlines the reasoning behind net neutrality and the strategy for the FCC to achieve it. First of all why do we need it:

Until August 2005, the commission required that companies providing high-speed access to the Internet over telephone lines not discriminate among Web sites. This allowed innumerable online businesses — eBay, Google, Amazon, your local knitter — to start up without asking permission from phone and cable companies. There was nothing unusual about this legal requirement; for more than 100 years, federal regulators had treated telegraph and telephone service providers as "common carriers," obligated to serve everyone equally.

Under the Bush administration the F.C.C. deregulated high-speed Internet providers. The F.C.C. declared that high-speed Internet access would no longer be considered a “telecommunications service” but rather an “information service.” This removed all high-speed Internet access services — phone as well as cable — from regulation under the common-carrier section of the Communications Act.

When the Bush F.C.C. deregulated ISPs it hoped that it would prompt greater competition in Internet access services. The unintended consequences were that a wave of mergers kept prices high and speeds slow. And eventually the carriers started saying that they wanted to be gatekeepers — creating fast lanes for some Web sites and applications and slow lanes for others.

How to solve this? Crawford's solution:

In its decision last week, the appeals court said that the “information services” label given to high-speed Internet access providers means the F.C.C. cannot prohibit companies like Comcast from engaging in discriminatory activities... The F.C.C. has the legal authority to change the label, as long as it can provide a good reason. And that reason is obvious: Americans buy an Internet access service based on its speed and price — and not on whether an e-mail address is included as part of a bundle. The commission should state its case, relabel high-speed Internet access as a “telecommunications service,” and take back the power to protect American consumers.

Now the Glen Becks out there will tell you that net neutrality inhibits free speech and is a plot to spy on your internet activity. He couldn't be further from the truth and as usual is deliberately misleading hi audience.

The full NYT Op-Ed is here

I Hope the Republicans Love Their Children Too

So I guess the Republicans have forgotten their own history. One of Ronald Reagan's biggest accomplishments was the nuclear arms reduction treaties he signed with Secretary General, Mikhail Gorbachev. Serious arms reduction began under the title Salt 1 in 1968. Nixon and Brezhnev signed the Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty in 1972. So in the current round of nuclear arms reduction with the former super power, Fox News blatantly distorts the treaty and their coverage is full of inaccuracies. The treaty in question has many stipulations, notably that it does not eliminate all nuclear weapons, just reduces by a third, and does not render us defenseless. There are stipulations if we are attacked by biological weapons or if we are attached by a country who is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Sadly, pointing out the maniacal distortions in Fox coverage fell to Jon Stewart of the Daily Show. While the other network are reporting on a non-story on Sarah Palin's critique of Obama's treaty, Fox New reported "a willful misunderstanding of the policy," as they blathered on and on about how Obama was leaving us defenseless. Stewart he even compared the "purposeful idiocy" of Newt Gingrich and Sean Hannity to "Beavis and Butthead."

Once again our news system has show itself to be a super market tabloid and a comedy show has shown the idiocy of it all.

On top of that, Stewart did the unthinkable: shattered the infallible image of Ronald Reagan, a fan favorite among the Fox News crowd. Well played, Jon. Well played.

Glenn Beck (still) doesn't understand net neutrality. Not even close.

Since the last time Glenn Beck attacked net neutrality as Marxist plot to take over the Internet, he's had ample time to research and discover that the issue is in fact about keeping the internet as an open platform for individuals and businesses (an initiative supported by major corporations like Google, Amazon.com and Facebook). Beck would even have learned that conservative groups like the Christian Coaltion as well as Gun Owners of America and the Parents Television Council support net neutrality.

to see the rest of this article click below

Glenn Beck (still) doesn't understand net neutrality. Not even close.

Posted using ShareThis

Tao and Social Justice

The following is a translation of the Tao Te Ching, Chapter 77.

The way of heaven is like the bending of a bow.
The high end is pulled down and the low end is raised up.
The excessive is diminished
and the deficient is supplemented.

It is the way of heaven to take where there is too much
in order to give where there is not enough.
The way of people is otherwise.
They take where there is not enough
in order to increase where there is already too much.
Who will take from their own excesses
and give to all under heaven?
Only those who hold to the Tao.

Therefore, the True Person benefits yet expects no reward,
does the work and moves on.
There is no desire to be considered better than others.

Yesterday at work I was arguing with fellow instructor about Heath Care Reform. She stated "as a producer how can you support giving to people who do nothing?" I told her that it's my MORAL responsibility to do so. She retorted that what I was saying was nonsense and socialist. We have argued before about liberalism, in general, and health care, in particular, and agree to disagree. The thing that bugs me about her arguments is that she is very religious. She claims to go to church and she claims to be devote. I thought I was totally in bounds when I asked: What would Jesus do? She walked away in a huff. What is it about most Christianistas? They don't want to admit that Jesus was a socialist?
"Blessed are the poor,"
"do Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth," and "go, sell what you have, and give to the poor."
Again I tell you, "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
I'm not a christian, quite the opposite, I'm a devote atheist. I've read the bible though, several times, and I always come away with the idea that Jesus promoted Social Justice I guess the Republicans are RINOs Religious In Name Only.

Good Morning

This morning when I woke up bright and early, actually around 9:00, I took this pic of the Sangre De Cristo mountains outside my front door. I manipulated it a little, it was so windy that I couldn't stand still but it was a beautiful sight. As I write this the scene has totally changed. Now it's so socked in with clouds I can't even see the mountains.

We arrived, at the cabin, last night. After unpacking the truck, I noticed dessicated mountain blue jay at the base of a tree next to the porch. I didn't think much about it until later that night when I heard Buster munching on something under the table. He was chewing on the dried up bird like it was the best snack ever. I pitched the remains of the bird in the wood stove and Buster slumped on his bed...

I have not been into the political scene much over the last two weeks. I just think the system is so broken that it will never change. It's just nice to hang out in the mountains and enjoy the scenery.

Here's a Comment from a Total Loser

Sarah Palin continues to lift America's spirits and is out there in the trenches single handedly holding the torch of Liberty and fighting for America in the war that Barack Obama has waged upon our country.

Too bad it wasn't an April Fool.

Palin Gets Her Wish

Yesterday, in a story about Obama allowing offshore drilling Phil Flynn (Energy Analyst, PFGBEST Research) was interviewed by Scott Horsley from NPR. Mr. Flynn opened with this statement:

We've come a long way from the days when President Obama was talking about filling our tires with air, you know, could produce more energy savings than drilling in the ocean. I, for one, think it's a courageous move by the Obama administration, because we know many of the supporters are vehemently against this.

Inflating your tires to the right pressure is a good way to improve fuel mileage, by about 3% according to some studies. Why malign suggestions that actually work?
Anyway, how much oil is actually off our coasts? This is up for debate but the small amount that IS there might not be worth the expense.

Later in the story, Horsley said that Top Republicans grudgingly applauded the president's move. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell called it a step in the right direction, but a small step. McConnell also questioned whether the administration would really follow through and issue the permits for offshore drilling. But Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who met with the president earlier this month, says he came away impressed by Mr. Obama's openness to traditionally Republican thinking.

Is it Republican thinking to take the short sided approach? Is it Republican thinking to focus on older technologies that will run dry? And, more importantly why does Obama want to throw them a bone (pun intended)? Does he think he's going to find consensus with the Republicans on a climate bill? Really?

Still Gettin' Screwed by the Banks

One year ago I wrote about Shiti Group and Why does Vikram Pandit, CEO of Citigroup, get to keep his job? According to the AP, Pandit claimed that Citigroup was profitable up through February and has agreed to take a $1 a year salary until Citi is profitable again. To date we have bailed out Citi to the tune of $45 billion. The government forced them to cancel their order for a $50 million corporate jet and hanging on a thread is their $400 million naming rights deals with the Met's stadium. Timothy Geithner let Pandit keep his job while offing the board, a move that is usually reserved for shareholders or the mafia.

Here's the deal, we are still letting the losers dictate the terms of Financial reform. One year ago, scum of the earth like Limbaugh and the entire Fox network and getting the ignorant masses worked up into a Santorum (Santorum "that frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex." thanks to Dan Savage) by tossing around terms like NATIONALIZATION and SOCIALISM. Why do these guys get any play? Haven't they been entirely discredited? Look at Sweden's bailout. By taking over the banks Sweden not only solved their banking crisis (one that is remarkably similar to ours) but the final cost was less than 2% of GDP. We could be approaching 60% of GDP and if we let Geithner have his way that could climb to 100% of GDP.

What should be do? Last year I was advocating for a temporary take over of the banking system, locking Limbaugh away, shutting down FOX and telling everyone else to enjoy a nice cup of shut the fuck up! Obviously none of this happened and not surprisingly we are no where near reform.

The only way to find out what the financial system is up to is to start checking out this site: Planet Money and listen to the podcast.

So the mess that was the financial system bailout. The populist anger over executive pay and bonus and the voice of reason from Paul Volcker and Simon Johnson seems to be drowned out.
Mr. Volcker recently made two important points:

1. The financial sector does not add anywhere near as much social value as its proponents claim.

2. Too big to fail banks are alive and well - and this poses a major problem to our future prosperity.

The message yesterday and from other statements made by Mr. Volcker is clear. Our biggest banks are out of control and will not be reined in by the measures currently on the table. We need a much stronger approach to big banks - an approach that will strip government-backed banks of their ability to take crazy risks and, most likely, an approach that significantly constrains (and hopefully even reduces) their size.

Chris Dodd (D Conn) in an 11th hour bid to save his legacy before leaving office has supposedly taken the financial reform bull by the horns (puns all intended). But as of yesterday Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who recently expressed his disappointment with his fellow Republicans on the committee for missing an opportunity to shape the legislation, went a step further on Tuesday, telling the Wall Street Journal that he "absolutely cannot support" the current bill.

Explaining that he has serious concerns about the bill in its current form, Corker added: "I am absolutely not throwing in the towel. I have no plans to support the current legislation. I hope we'll get back to the negotiating table."

Either the Dodd legislation is so flawed that Corker cannot support it because it won't do any good to Corker is now following his obstructionist partners in crime...

Where's the Pot of Gold?

I haven't written much over the last week, well nothing at all actually... I found this on How Stuff Works and thought it was a light read.

You can't reach the end of the rainbow because a rainbow is kind of like an optical illusion. A rainbow is formed because raindrops act like little prisms. The raindrops split light up into bands of color. The colors you see in a rainbow come from millions of raindrops that are sitting at different angles in the sky. These raindrops split the sunlight into colors for your eyes to see.

When you move toward the rainbow, the angles change. So millions of different raindrops create the new rainbow with the new angles. In order for the angles to work out, the raindrops have to be a certain distance from your eyes. So no matter how you move, the rainbow will always be the same distance away from you. That's why you can never reach the end of the rainbow.

The Benefits of Health Reform In Colorado

DPC Special Report 1
DPC Staff Contact: Jacqueline Garry Lampert (202) 224-3232 March 22, 2010 DPC Press Contact: Barry Piatt (202) 224-0577
Available Online: dpc.senate.gov
We won't get these benefits because our Attorney General is suing to block it.

Together, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act will ensure that all Coloradans have access to quality, affordable health insurance. The Congressional Budget Office has determined that these two bills are fully paid for, will bend the health care cost curve, and will reduce the deficit by $143 billion over the next ten years with further deficit reduction in the following decade. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act will reduce the cost of health care for the middle class, ensure health security to seniors, and provide tax credits to small businesses and individuals to further reduce the cost of health coverage.

Key Benefits for Colorado
•Provide tax credits for up to 68,800 Colorado small businesses to help make coverage more affordable. [HealthReform.gov, accessed 3/20/10]
•Prohibit insurance companies from excluding coverage of pre-existing conditions for the 1.2 million children in Colorado, starting this year. [U.S. Census Bureau, 1/7/10]
•Close the "donut hole‟ and improve other Medicare benefits for 574,000 Colorado seniors. [HealthReform.gov, accessed 3/20/10]
•Reduce Medicare premiums for the 394,000 Colorado seniors who are not enrolled in Medicare Advantage and will no longer subsidize these private insurance plans. [Senate Finance Committee]
•Ensure affordable coverage options for 826,000 Coloradans who are uninsured and 345,000 Coloradans who purchase health insurance through the individual market. [HealthReform.gov, accessed 3/20/10]
•Ensure immediate access to affordable insurance options for as many as 104,110 uninsured Coloradans who have a pre-existing condition. [staff estimate using Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), 4/09 and HealthReform.gov, accessed 3/20/10]
•Provide tax credits for up to 439,000 Coloradans to help make health insurance more affordable, bringing $7.1 billion in premium and cost-sharing tax credits into Colorado during the first five years of the health insurance Exchange. [HealthReform.gov, accessed 3/20/10; Senate Finance Committee]
•Reduce family health insurance premiums by $1,510 - $2,160 for the same benefits, as compared to what they would be without health reform by 2016. [Senate Finance Committee estimate based on CBO, 11/30/09]
DPC Special Report 2
•Provide access to Medicaid for 286,388 newly-eligible Coloradans, and provide $5.7 billion in federal funding for the cost of their coverage. [Urban Institute, 1/25/10; Senate Finance Committee]
•Create 4,100 - 6,500 jobs by reducing health care costs for employers. [U.S. Public Interest Research Group, 1/20/10]
•Allow 476,210 young adults to stay on their parents‟ insurance plans. [U.S. Census Bureau, 1/7/10]
•Provide more federal funding for 160 Community Health Centers in Colorado. [National Association of Community Health Centers, 2009]
Affordable Coverage Options for Colorado Small Businesses
Small businesses make up 76.7 percent of all Colorado businesses, yet just 38.1 percent of these small businesses are able to offer health insurance to their employees. [AHRQ, accessed 3/20/10; AHRQ, accessed 3/20/10] Starting this year, up to 68,800 Colorado small businesses will be eligible for tax credits for a percentage of their contribution to their employees‟ health insurance. [HealthReform.gov, accessed 3/20/10] Small businesses of the size that qualify for these tax credits employ 246,458 Coloradans. [AHRQ, accessed 3/20/10]
Protecting Children
Recognizing the special vulnerability of children, health reform prohibits insurance companies from excluding coverage of pre-existing conditions for the 1.2 million children in Colorado. This takes effect six months after enactment and applies to all new plans. [U.S. Census Bureau, 1/7/10]
Strengthening Medicare for Colorado Seniors
Health reform improves Medicare benefits for the 574,000 Medicare beneficiaries in Colorado. [HealthReform.gov, accessed 3/20/10] Each year, 102,000 Colorado seniors hit the Medicare Part D "donut hole.‟ [HealthReform.gov, accessed 3/20/10] Starting this year, seniors who hit this gap in their prescription drug coverage will receive a $250 check, and the "donut hole‟ will be completely closed by 2020. The 574,000 Medicare beneficiaries in Colorado will see other improvements to the program, including a free, annual wellness visit and no cost-sharing for prevention services. Finally, by gradually moving to a more fair payment system for private insurance companies who participate in Medicare Advantage, health reform will lower Medicare costs for the 394,000 Colorado seniors not enrolled in Medicare Advantage, by as much as $45 in premium costs each year. [Senate Finance Committee]
Affordable Coverage Options for Coloradans
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act contain several provisions to expand affordable coverage options for millions of Americans. First, health reform will provide immediate access to quality, affordable health insurance for as many as 104,110 uninsured Coloradans who are unable to obtain health insurance because of a pre-existing condition. [staff estimate using AHRQ, 4/09 and HealthReform.gov, accessed 3/20/10] This new $5 billion program will take effect 90 days after enactment of health reform.
DPC Special Report 3
Second, health reform will ensure that the 826,000 uninsured Coloradans and 345,000 Coloradans who purchase health insurance through the individual market have access to affordable health insurance options through state-based health insurance Exchanges. [HealthReform.gov, accessed 3/20/10] By reforming the insurance market and forcing insurance companies to compete for business through the Exchange, health reform will reduce family health insurance premiums by $1,510 - $2,160 for the same benefits. [Senate Finance Committee estimate based on CBO, 11/30/09] In addition, 439,000 Coloradans will receive premium tax credits to help make health insurance even more affordable. [HealthReform.gov, accessed 3/20/10] During the first five years that the health insurance Exchange is operational, Coloradans will receive $7.1 billion in premium and cost-sharing tax credits to further reduce the cost of health insurance. [Senate Finance Committee]
Finally, health reform will open access to Medicaid for 286,388 newly eligible Coloradans, by expanding eligibility to non-elderly parents, childless adults, children and pregnant women with income up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level. [Urban Institute, 1/25/10] The federal government will fully fund the cost of covering these newly eligible individuals for three years and will pay 90 percent of these costs after 2020, compared to the current contribution in Colorado of 50 percent of costs. In total, Colorado could receive $5.7 billion in federal funding during just the first five years of this coverage expansion. [Senate Finance Committee]
Affordable Coverage Options for Colorado Young Adults
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, “Young adults often lose their health insurance if covered under a parent‟s or guardian‟s policy at age 19 or upon graduation from high school or college.” [NCSL, accessed 3/20/10] Starting this year, 476,210 young adults in Colorado will be able to remain covered by their parent‟s insurance policy until age 26. [U.S. Census Bureau, 1/7/10] In addition, once the health insurance Exchanges are operational in 2014, 790,234 Coloradans under age 30 will have access to less costly catastrophic-only health insurance plans. [U.S. Census Bureau, 1/7/10] These plans will also be available to others who are exempt from the individual responsibility policy.
Job Creation
A recent analysis found that slowing the growth rate of health care costs will make it more profitable for businesses to expand employment, leading to estimated job gains nationwide of 250,000 – 400,000 per year for the next decade as a result of health reform. [Center for American Progress, 1/10] For Colorado, this could mean 4,100 - 6,500 new jobs each year. [U.S. Public Interest Research Group, 1/20/10]
Support for Colorado Community Health Centers
Community health centers provide critical health care to Coloradans, regardless of their ability to pay. Health reform makes an immediate and substantial investment in the 160 federally-funded health centers in Colorado. [National Association of Community Health Centers, 2009]

Teabagger's Parents and Grandparents

Actually, looking at the age of some of the teabaggers it might be the same generation... the dream lives on.

The Immediate Benefits

KEY PROVISIONS THAT TAKE EFFECT IMMEDIATELY UNDER SENATE BILL AS AMENDED BY RECONCILIATION BILL
Below are some of the key provisions that will take effect immediately, under the legislative package the House will consider later this week (the Senate health bill as amended by the reconciliation bill). The reconciliation bill is based largely on the improvements put forward by the President’s proposal – moving towards the House bill in certain critical areas.
1. SMALL BUSINESS TAX CREDITS—Offers tax credits to small businesses to make employee coverage more affordable. Tax credits of up to 35 percent of premiums will be immediately available to firms that choose to offer coverage. Effective beginning for calendar year 2010. (Beginning in 2014, the small business tax credits will cover 50 percent of premiums.)
2. BEGINS TO CLOSE THE MEDICARE PART D DONUT HOLE—Provides a $250 rebate to Medicare beneficiaries who hit the donut hole in 2010. Effective for calendar year 2010. (Beginning in 2011, institutes a 50% discount on brand‐name drugs in the donut hole; also completely closes the donut hole by 2020.)
3. FREE PREVENTIVE CARE UNDER MEDICARE—Eliminates co‐payments for preventive services and exempts preventive services from deductibles under the Medicare program. Effective beginning January 1, 2011.
4. HELP FOR EARLY RETIREES—Creates a temporary re‐insurance program (until the Exchanges are available) to help offset the costs of expensive health claims for employers that provide health benefits for retirees age 55‐64. Effective 90 days after enactment
5. ENDS RESCISSIONS—Bans health plans from dropping people from coverage when they get sick. Effective 6 months after enactment.
6. NO DISCRIMINATON AGAINST CHILDREN WITH PRE‐EXISTING CONDITIONS—Prohibits health plans from denying coverage to children with pre‐existing conditions. Effective 6 months after enactment. (Beginning in 2014, this prohibition would apply to all persons.)
7. BANS LIFETIME LIMITS ON COVERAGE—Prohibits health plans from placing lifetime caps on coverage. Effective 6 months after enactment.
8. BANS RESTRICTIVE ANNUAL LIMITS ON COVERAGE—Tightly restricts new plans’ use of annual limits to ensure access to needed care. These tight restrictions will be defined by HHS. Effective 6 months after enactment. (Beginning in 2014, the use of any annual limits would be prohibited for all plans.)
9. FREE PREVENTIVE CARE UNDER NEW PRIVATE PLANS—Requires new private plans to cover preventive services with no co‐payments and with preventive services being exempt from deductibles. Effective 6 months after enactment. (Beginning in 2018, this requirement applies to all plans.)
10. NEW, INDEPENDENT APPEALS PROCESS—Ensures consumers in new plans have access to an effective internal and external appeals process to appeal decisions by their health insurance plan. Effective 6 months after enactment.
11. ENSURING VALUE FOR PREMIUM PAYMENTS—Requires plans in the individual and small group market to spend 80 percent of premium dollars on medical services, and plans in the large group market to spend 85 percent. Insurers that do not meet these thresholds must provide rebates to policyholders. Effective on January 1, 2011.
12. IMMEDIATE HELP FOR THE UNINSURED UNTIL EXCHANGE IS AVAILABLE (INTERIM HIGH‐RISK POOL)—Provides immediate access to insurance for Americans who are uninsured because of a pre‐existing condition ‐ through a temporary high‐risk pool. Effective 90 days after enactment.
13. EXTENDS COVERAGE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE UP TO 26TH BIRTHDAY THROUGH PARENTS’ INSURANCE – Requires health plans to allow young people up to their 26th birthday to remain on their parents’ insurance policy, at the parents’ choice. Effective 6 months after enactment.
14. COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS—Increases funding for Community Health Centers to allow for nearly a doubling of the number of patients seen by the centers over the next 5 years. Effective beginning in fiscal year 2010.
15. INCREASING NUMBER OF PRIMARY CARE DOCTORS—Provides new investment in training programs to increase the number of primary care doctors, nurses, and public health professionals. Effective beginning in fiscal year 2010.
16. PROHIBITING DISCRIMINATION BASED ON SALARY—Prohibits new group health plans from establishing any eligibility rules for health care coverage that have the effect of discriminating in favor of higher wage employees. Effective 6 months after enactment.
17. HEALTH INSURANCE CONSUMER INFORMATION—Provides aid to states in establishing offices of health insurance consumer assistance in order to help individuals with the filing of complaints and appeals. Effective beginning in FY 2010.
18. CREATES NEW, VOLUNTARY, PUBLIC LONG‐TERM CARE INSURANCE PROGRAM—Creates a long‐term care insurance program to be financed by voluntary payroll deductions to provide benefits to adults who become functionally disabled. Effective on January 1, 2011.
OFFICE OF SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI MARCH 18, 2010

Just the Beginning

Teabaggers have ridiculed a man with Parkinson's, compared Obama to Hilter, threatened violence with guns, used racial slurs, and said health care is a privilege and not a right. Health care is a privilege? Are the Teabaggers so out of touch that they believe all working people can afford health care? I couldn't afford an extra $180 a month for insurance and that's with a $2500 deductible! Even with a good job I pay almost $100 a month but that includes dental and optical and a much lower deductible.

Here are several reasons why health care should be a right and not a privilege:

Drug resistant infections
out of control emergency rooms
new pandemics on the horizon
lost productivity
spiralling costs for everyone...

How about just the first point? For every infection that goes untreated and festers or for every patience that does not follow their medication regimen we are setting the stage for super bugs. TB now comes in a bright, new, shiny drug resistant strain, childhood illnesses once thought to be eradicated are making a comeback.

When I was in school we had immunization day. We were given Polio vaccines right in school. There have been cries, on the right, of socialized medicine invading our country and we are on a slippery slope to becoming a European style state but many of the people so violently opposed to the public option also received Polio Vaccines in Public schools, as well as other vaccines, TB tests, and fluoride treatments. There was a time when we as Americans all worked together to achieve great things and I was hoping we were about to experience a Renaissance but I was wrong. I was not so naive as to believe that Obama would be able to cure everything but he came with a message of hard work and pulling together and personal responsibility that I liked.

The reason I think this health care reform is a good start (but only a start) is that I hope it will put us on track for a single payer system. Or, if not a single payer system then establish a system of private NON-PROFIT insurers. We always hear about the English, Canadian, or French system but what about the German system?
excerpted from Germany’s Health Care System: It’s Not The American Way
by Uwe E. Reinhardt

First, Germany’s system is almost elegant in its simplicity. That is probably
no historical accident. Germans appear to understand the trade-off
between the operational simplicity of a system and its fairness and efficiency
in each particular instance...
Second, the ethical precepts driving German health policy differ substantially
from those driving American policy. Germans, along with other
Europeans and Canadians, view health care as part of the cement that binds
a people sharing the same geography into a genuine nation. All social
classes in Germany thus are made to share the same health care system.
About 90 percent of the population gains access to that system through one
social insurance scheme that is administered by some 1,000 fiscally independent,
semiprivate sickness funds operating under the constraints of a
federal statute. Only about 10 percent of the German population has
private commercial insurance, but they share the same health care delivery
system and merely enjoy more amenities.
Under Germany’s statutory insurance scheme, premiums are based on
ability to pay. With the financial burden of illness fully socialized in this
way, the system inevitably would be subjected to top-down global budgeting,
including controls on price and volume. Germany’s clear social ethic,
to which all political parties still pledge explicit allegiance, makes the
global budgeting described by these authors politically acceptable.
The United States never has had a one-tier health care system, and, as
the recent debate on health reform in Congress has demonstrated, the
United States never will have a one-tier health care system. A working
majority of the politicians representing Americans in the policy arena
evidently view health care as essentially a private consumption good of
which low-income families might be accorded a basic ration, but whose
availability and quality should be allowed to vary with family income. This
view lends official sanction to the following three-tier system: Tier I for
the low-income uninsured: a system of public hospitals and clinics that
rations health care severely through constraints on capacity. Tier II for
the insured, broad middle class: a system of competitive, integrated private
health plans budgeted on a per capita basis, with limited choice of providers
and with varying degrees of tacit rationing. Tier III for the Medicare
population and the moneyed elite: the traditional, open-ended, free-choice
fee-for-service health care system with little or no rationing of care.

The interesting thing is that this article was written in 1994 and things have not changed. Well what has changed is that we spend a great percentage of our GDP, 14% in '94 and over 16% now, Germany still only spends about 10%.

The Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland do not use a government-run, Medicare-like health insurance plan. They all rely on purely private, nonprofit or for-profit insurers that are goaded by tight regulation to work toward socially desired ends. And they do so at average per-capita health-care costs far below those of the United States — costs in Germany and the Netherlands are less than half of those here.

So really the Teabaggers are willing to risk another 1918 flu pandemic, or the rampant infection from the next superbug because they don't want to give any handouts... I am truly saddened at the level of hate this country has come to. Just wait for the immigration reform. If you thought health care was a fight you ain't seen nothin' yet

WTF

If you can't read the title it says "if Brown can't stop it a Browning can..."



This is the type of violence that the Republicans and their anti-American supporters have been striving for ever since the Obama Administration took office with the pledge to clean up the GOP's mess.

In attendance and apparently proud to be part of a group of anti-American traitors engaged in seditious behavior were Republican Reps. Steve King (IA), Michele Bachmann (MN), and Mike Pence (IN), and the insanity was in part organized by Dick Armey's Freedomworks and Art Pope's Americans for Prosperity. Americans for Prosperity "advocates pro-tobacco industry positions on issues like cigarette taxes and clean indoor air laws" [SourceWatch].
Story from epluribus media

Teabaggers Mock A Man With Parkinson's Disease

COLUMBUS - In a scene reminiscent of non-violent civil rights confrontations from the 1960s, Ohio Tea Partiers quickly turned ugly when facing off with health care advocates in front of Ohio Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy's office Tuesday.

In shocking video taken by a Columbus Dispatch reporter Doral Chenowith yesterday, Tea Party protestors mock a seated counter-protestor with a sign indicating he has Parkinson's disease. They then proceed to hurl wadded up bills at him shouting, "I'll decide when to give you money!"
On March 17th outside of Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy's (D-OH15) district office teabaggers mocked and scorned a man who had a sign stating that he had Parkinson's. They told him "he's in the wrong end of town to ask for handouts", called him a communist and threw dollar bills at him to "pay for his health care".

Census

When I was a kid I remember my Kindergarten teacher talking about the importance of the Census. I also remember classroom discussions about it in high school. The thing that strikes me as funny is that in the 44 years of my life we are still answering the same dumb questions about the census and idiots like Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) are still promoting the stupidity. Last June Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann told the Washington Times that she and her family will not be fully filling out the 2010 census forms. Bachmann believes the upcoming census to be "very intricate" and "very personal" and expresses concerns about ACORN's involvement in the data collection. Bachmann claimed that since President Obama has come into office, he is making available $8.5 billion – with a 'b' - to ACORN, an organization that is repeatedly under indictment for voter fraud in multiple states across the country. But the fact is, ACORN isn't eligible for this funding...
Another right-wing nut job. The Constitution is clear, we conduct a census every 10 years. What were the questions asked in the first census of 1790?

Name of the head of each household.
How many free white males age 16 and older.
How many free white males under age 16.
How many free white females.
How many of all other free persons.
How many slaves.

Questions in this year's census?
There are 10 questions on the short form and they are basic questions concerning how many people live at this address, what type of dwelling and some personal information... the same kind of information you would provide to get a Blockbuster card... so do your patriotic duty and fill it out!

Making Amends

There are definitely cycles in life and I've been thinking about my past and trying to come to terms with some of the things I've done. I've been clean and sober for nearly 24 years and while I don't attend meetings very much I do continue to work the steps and sometimes the steps work me. I created this video a few years ago and wanted to revisit it because of all of the people I have harmed there is one who will never be able to hear my amends. This is a story about Opie.

Word Clouds

I was experimenting with Wordle last night. Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight created two word clouds based on Gallup's health care survey. Gallup provided the verbatim responses and Silver snagged those to create his Wordle clouds so I thought I would too. It's very addicting and I soon found that several hours had passed. The top one is the against reform responses and the bottom one is the for reform responses. Each image definitely tells a different story...



I thought I could do another based on Constitution. What evolved shows a document that is heavily weighted for the States. If you have not played with Wordle it creates a graphic illustration of text by giving weight to words that appear most often. Articles and common words are deleted like A, The, An, And... It's a pretty interesting tool to play with and explore.

A Different Stir

Fred Phelps, founder and pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., claims to be a man of God. But when I interviewed him days after he initiated a vulgar protest at a dead Marine's funeral, he reminded me more of Lucifer

.
That's how Michael Smerconish, from the Philadelphia Inquirer, starts his March 14th OP-Ed piece about free speech versus the right to gather.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case concerning Phelps' right to protest and assemble. Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who died in combat in Iraq on March 3, 2006. Joining his family, friends, and loved ones at his funeral a week later were Phelps and several protesters from Westboro Baptist. According to a lower court's recounting of the facts: "They traveled to Matthew Snyder's funeral in order to publicize their message of God's hatred of America for its tolerance of homosexuality."

Phelps has made it his mission to get the USA back on track by protesting at the funerals of fallen soldiers. His signage reflects a perverse ideology and is littered with phrases like: "God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11," "Pope in Hell," "America Is Doomed," "Fag Troops," "You're Going to Hell," "God Hates You," "Semper Fi Fags," "Thank God for IEDs," and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers."

Snyder's father, Albert, sued Phelps and some of his parishioners, initially winning a $10-million-plus award but that was thrown out by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

The Judge, Robert King, wrote in the court's opinion,"As utterly distasteful as these signs are... they involve matters of public concern, including the issue of homosexuals in the military, the sex-abuse scandal within the Catholic Church, and the political and moral conduct of the United States and its citizens." They are protected by the First Amendment, the court concluded, because they didn't assert "objectively verifiable facts" that specifically apply to Matthew or Albert Snyder.

I've long been an atheist and I find acts like those of Fred Phelps not only distasteful but proof that Christianity has fallen off the rails. Yes I know that Phelps is a tiny minority but he represents a larger fallacy in Christian theology, that God, if he did exist, would waste his time micro-managing the world and it's day to day outcomes.

I recently heard Rabbi Harold Kushner, who has written a dozen books offering guidance from the Bible for living a life that matters. His best-known title is When Bad Things Happen to Good People.

He says that if he had to face the fact that God was either all-powerful but not kind, or thoroughly kind and loving, but not totally powerful, he would rather compromise God's power and affirm his love.

"The ... theological conclusion I came to is that God could have been all-powerful at the beginning, but he chose to designate two areas of life off-limits to his power," Kushner says. "He would not arbitrarily interfere with laws of nature. And secondly, God would not take away our freedom to choose between good and evil."

I found that comforting. The God, that I don't believe in, chose to be all loving but not all powerful. This makes more sense that telling a parent who recently lost a child that we cannot know the will of God... or however that lame argument goes.

Too bad that people like Phelps are the ones who make the news more often. Of the 2 billion Christians on the planet I have heard no one make as much sense as Rabbi Harold Kushner.

Separation of Church and State

I have written before about the sway Texas holds in the development of public School curriculum: Why Does Texas get to Pick Textbooks and the controversy continues. Before I go on I have to disclose that I lived in Dallas for 3 years while in grad school. I attended the University of Dallas, voted the most conservative college in America, but that's a different story. Every night the local new would highlight some row at the school board. Black, White, Hispanic... All fighting and even throwing furniture. It was quite bizarre.

But I digress, according to the AP this morning, A far-right faction of the Texas State Board of Education succeeded Friday in injecting conservative ideals into social studies, history and economics lessons that will be taught to millions of students for the next decade.

Teachers in Texas will be required to cover the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation's Founding Fathers, but not highlight the philosophical rationale for the separation of church and state. Curriculum standards also will describe the U.S. government as a "constitutional republic," rather than "democratic..." The Judeo part of Judeo Christian cracks me up because the colonist really hated Jews. Many colonies were set up to promote one protestant religion excluding Catholics, Jews, and differing sects of protestantism. Quakers were particularly singled out and were even executed for their beliefs in Pre-Revolutionary America.

Republicans easily pushed through amendments heralding "American exceptionalism" and the U.S. free enterprise system, suggesting it thrives best absent excessive government intervention. Also Board members argued about the classification of historic periods (still B.C. and A.D., rather than the more academically adopted B.C.E. and C.E. If you have not seen C.E. it is a numbering system that splits between the Common Era and Before the Common Era and is widely used everywhere except Texas)

To me this is the most telling statement: Democrats did score a victory by deleting a portion of an amendment by Republican Don McLeroy suggesting that the civil rights movement led to "unrealistic expectations for equal outcomes." Wow! McLeroy was the character who wanted classic myths and fables rather than newly written stories whose messages they didn’t agree with... He has been in charge of changing textbooks for years and still wants apocryphal stories such as Washington and the cherry tree to be taught versus real history. Here is Mcleroy's rational for evaluating history books:

“… we are a Christian nation founded on Christian principles. The way I evaluate history textbooks is first I see how they cover Christianity and Israel. Then I see how they treat Ronald Reagan — he needs to get credit for saving the world from communism and for the good economy over the last 20 years because he lowered taxes.”

Hopefully McLeroy's tenure on the Texas Board will be ending soon. He was removed as the chairman by the Texas Senate because of his religious views; he believes in a literal reading of Genesis... He faces a tough re-election. He is in a neck and neck race for the GOP primary. There is not a Democratic challenger so if he squeaks out a primary victory he will still hold sway over the next generation of textbooks. Maybe it's time to pray.

Why is Medicine So Expensive?

If you are one of the 255 million Americans WITH health insurance you probably have seen an EOB or Explanation of Benefits. What is shocking about and EOB is the difference between what a doctor charges and what insurance actually pays. For example, I recently had an allergic reaction to an antibiotic prescribed by my doc, actually he's a Physician Assistant. To treat my hives the EOB show the doc billed, my copay and the plan allowance:



the strange thing about the charges is that I was never given IV Therapy. The PA mis-coded a procedure. As a health care consumer, with insurance, I have little knowledge of the true cost of health care. Does an injection of steroids to treat an allergic reaction really cost $75.60? Why is the plan allowance only $6.36 and I only have to pay .64¢? What happens to the other $68.60? And, what about the mis-coded treatment. The receptionist asked why I care... She said I only have to pay $2.37 for it and my insurance picks up the rest so what's the big deal...

Doctors are paid by a scheme called Fee For Service The idea of a government-run health-insurance plan made doctors nervous, and Lyndon Johnson's administration was worried that doctors wouldn't take Medicare patients. So Joseph Califano, Johnson's adviser for domestic affairs, made what seemed like a small concession: Medicare would pay doctors whatever they thought was reasonable. This concession cause health care costs to spiral out of control. By 1967 the Johnson Administration knew Fee for Service would soon bankrupt the country with spirally health care costs But doctors, who had a lot of sway with Congress, found they liked the payment system. So the system stayed in place for decades, as medicine got more expensive.

By the mid-1970's health care costs were growing faster then anticipated. By capping what doctors would be paid it was thought costs could be contained. Unfortunately Docs found a loop hole by ordering more tests and more procedures. Many time Docs pit patients against insurance companies knowing that we intrinsically trust our doctors and not the faceless insurance giants. Instead of thinking of our doctors as finance managers on car dealer lots trying to talk us into buying extended warranties; we blindly follow their advice even if it involves treatments and test that have no value.

Another reason health care costs are so expensive might be due to the fact that most new doctors start their profession $150,000 or more in debt. The cost of medical school is so expensive that doctors will take 50 years to pay off student loans.

I think the system is so broken that it will take a total overhaul to fix it. Single payer will end the bureaucratic nightmare that is currently health care billing. Student Loan forgiveness programs for Docs will change the mindset and encourage more medical student to consider Primary Care instead of Specialties. The end of the Fee for Service model and adoption of a salary system will trim cost too. Finally. reigning in big Pharma and controlling costs of prescription drugs needs to happen. But it will never happen. It's too much. There would have to be a populist revolt.

Failure to Lead

I remember the argument like it was yesterday. I was searching through the bins at Ace Hardware trying to find the right screws for the bathroom project. I was picking up boxes and discarding them with one hand and holding my phone with the other. It was late September 2008 and I was trying to convince my mom that Barack Obama was different, that voting for McCain was a mistake and that we needed to change direction. She was dismissive. She said she didn't trust any of them and that nothing would change. That's when she told me about her "wasted" vote. My mom, a life long Republican, voted for Jimmy Carter in 1976.

1976 was the Bicentennial year. The country was trying to forget it's economic troubles and trying to put the Nixon scandal behind us. The only thing I remember about the Presidential election was that a peanut farmer from Georgia was running and that he looked at Playboy. That night at dinner, my brothers and I asked mom and dad who they voted for and my mom was actually swooning over Carter. She kept saying that he's so smart and that he will take this country in a new direction and that he's so smart and he will change Washington and that he's so smart... For those too young to remember the late 70's stagflation (a period of slow economic growth and high unemployment with rising prices) was gripping the country, fuel prices were through the roof and Chrysler was heading for bankruptcy.

The savior from the south lasted one term, the Iran Hostage crisis did him in and Ronald Reagan was elected overwhelmingly in 1980. My mom was anti union and anti tax; my dad was an old school Democrat and pro-union his dad was in the union and they took care of him. Reagan was the cowboy riding in from the west to bust up the unions and clean up America. Even though I was just a teenager I knew Reagan was trouble but the country loved him and eventually we recovered from the malaise of the 70's and launched into the self-centered, coke-snorting, economic boom of the 80's...

Is Obama really that different? Will he become this generation's Carter? How can candidate Obama, a man so clear and articulate, so utterly fail to lead? His push for Health Care reconciliation isn't even an 11th hour push. It's 2:00am, last call and the lights are on. Frank Rich, in his op-ed column for 3/6/2010 so eloquently put it:

At last he pushed for a majority-rule, up-or-down vote in Congress. At last he conceded that bipartisan agreement between two parties with “honest and substantial differences” on fundamental principles wasn’t happening. At last he mobilized his rhetoric against a villain everyone could hiss — insurance companies. In a brief address, he mentioned these malefactors of great greed 13 times.

There was only one problem. This finest hour arrived hastily and tardily. At 1:45 p.m. Eastern time, who was watching? Of those who did watch or caught up later, how many bought the president’s vow to finish the job “in the next few weeks”?

But once again the Republicans are the master of the message and have cornered the conversation into talking points that start with ramming the legislation down the throats of the American voters and end with cries of socialism. What is lost in the battle are the costs. Today's Prime Number in the Times is 197: The amount, in thousands of dollars, that the typical married couple at age 65 should expect to spend on uninsured health care costs over the rest of their lives...

My parents lost their health care this fall. My Dad's pension went belly-up and they searched in earnest for a new prescription drug benefit but ended up with a band aid fix from Walgreens. Thankfully they are healthy but what happens if that changes. Will Medicare step in or will my brothers and I be saddled with the costs? I still find it amazing that Obama, with all his political capital and moral high ground has lost the argument to a few talking points and a few talking heads.

The Rough Rider

I thought that since the conservatives are demonizing Teddy Roosevelt I would look into his history and see what it could be that chaps their hide. Here is a brief time line:
1876-1880 Attends Harvard (has an education that's troubling...)
1880 Becomes a Republican (makes amends for attending Harvard)
1882 Joins National Guard (very patriotic nothing funny here)
1882 Publishes his first book The Navel War of 1812
1883 Establishes 2 cattle ranches in the Dakota Region (I've got nothing)
1884 Wife and Mother die on the same day
1884-1898 Publishes 10 more books
1898 Spanish American War Cavalry Regimen Rough Riders
1898 Elected Governor of New York
1901 Vice President, McKinley assassinated and TR becomes 26th President
1902 Orders antitrust suit under Sherman Act to dissolve Northern Securities Company in the first of 45 antitrust suits. (Conservatives are steaming)
1902 Crater Lake National Park established (Conservatives loathe this... Yellowstone was the first National park founded in 1872)
1903 Treaty signed with Panama for building of Panama Canal, which was completed in 1914. (This is a big deal with conservatives)
1906 Awarded Nobel Peace Prize for ending Russo-Japanese War in 1905 (again conservatives hate this)

So, Promoting conservation, Panama Treaty, Peace Prize, and trust-buster; all progressive reasons conservatives hate TR.
Woodrow Wilson coming soon.

Well this fits

Funnier than Leno. The stand-up begins at 2:27/7:07 mark. Sorry about the commercial.

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

Submitted Without Comment

Perhaps never before in American history have two individuals so captured the hearts, minds and imaginations of such a wide proportion of the citizenry as have Sarah Palin and Barack Obama. Both are charismatic, charming in their own ways, in dramatic, stand-above-the-crowd fashion.

At present, with a “post-American” president at the helm, Sarah Palin carries the torch of liberty and American exceptionalism in the palm of her lovely hand. She is the surviving embodiment of the spirit of 1776 and the Reagan reformation.

She is at once the American phoenix and the shining city on the hill, captured in the imaginations of a people still yearning to be free and determined to strive for greatness, even if the rest of the world prefers to drown in mediocrity, corruption and defeatist socialist uniformity.

What are the Republicans up to?

During the CPAC convention, Glenn Beck was the keynote speaker. We was espousing long held beliefs of the John Birch Society AND the JBS was a sponsor of the event. Even though the radical ideas of the John Birch Society have been promoted by the Ron "Get rid of the Fed" Paul most people dismiss him as a kook, Glenn Beck with his wild popularity (though still considered a kook) has brought JBS ideas back to the forefront.
The basic tenets of the society are:
Strict Constitutionalism
Isolationism (no United Nations...)
Anti Income Tax
Anti Social Safety Net
Anti Busing for the Purpose of Desegregation (I through this in for context... they were anti civil rights)
Judeo-Christian value (without the Judeo part as they hate Jews)
Big 10th Amendment proponents (powers to the states...)
Basically the idea is that Bush was not really a conservative. Bush's No Child Left Behind, Medicare Drug Benefit, and huge Growth of Debt and the Federal Government was a betrayal of the conservative movement and that's why they lost the last election. Also given the fact the McCain Loved Teddy Roosevelt, anathema to JBS, was a reason to stay home. The new direction of the party seems to be a Pre-Teddy Roosevelt revolution. They want to dismantle the legacies of Roosevelt, Wilson, FDR, and Carter. More about the History of the JBS tomorrow.

An Amazing Story

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2010/04/09
I've been a Radiolab listener for a few years. Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich are great hosts, their patter sets a great tone. They recently produced a show titled Lucy, the link is above and the photo is from Charles Siebert's book The Wauchula Woods Accord: Toward a New Understanding of Animals Please listen let me know if this story moves you. It will only take an hour our of your day and it truly is an amazing story.

Political Theater

With the political pundits in every media outlet looking for winners and losers and with the Republicans calling the whole event political theater, was anything really accomplished?
I'm guessing not but I could barely contain myself when I heard Eric Cantor R-VA speak up and say "the American people have spoken... and they don't want this bill..." I wanted Obama to bitch slap him and say of course not motherfucker, you lied about every part of it. From Death Panels to the carefully crafted talking points calling it a Government Takeover the Repubs pulled out the full arsenal. The Republican's master wordsmith, Frank Luntz, so skillfully framed the talking points that even the media began to use them. Let's review Republican tactics:

•Jim DeMint R-SC says: "If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him."
•Betsy McCaughey, former Lieutenant Governor of NY coins the term "Death Panels"
•Sarah Palin popularizes the term "Death Panels"
•All Republicans follow lock step with Luntz' term "Government Takeover"
•American learn they can substitute SOCIALIST for N****R
•Tea Party is started by Texas Republican Dick Armey
•Obama's face with Hitler mustache, apparently Tea Baggers don't know the difference between Socialism and Fascism...
•Republican Plan non-existent until recently...

I am surprised Obama kept his cool. Will anything change probably not. Was it political theater, of course. People on the right will follow what their talking heads said and people on the left will do the same. Most folks will vote against their own best interest and nothing will change...

Know What the Doc is Giving You

When I get sick I almost always go into Bronchitis and this time was no different. I went to the Doc and sure enough I had a secondary sinus and bronchial infection so he prescribed Bactrim. He asked if I have ever taken Sulfa drugs and to my knowledge I have not so off to Walgreens with a script. Twelve hours later and I look like a lobster but my cough is better. It seems Bactrim is a great drug to prevent patients from developing pneumonia but it has a high sensitivity rate. On a return visit to the doc I got a shot of a steroid to calm the hives and a new script for Levaquin, another kick ass antibiotic that I can tolerate. Here's the sucky thing though. Bactrim cost me $6.67 out of pocket because it's on my health plan's formulary. Levaquin cost me $35.00 because it's not. When I called my insurance company crying foul they said that's just the way it is. So common cheaper drugs that are on the formulary I'm allergic to and the effective not so allergic drugs I have to pay a premium for. That just figures.

Oh and it turns out that if my Doc had known that I was allergic to shellfish he would not have prescribed Bactrim. That little tidbit of info was buried in my file somewhere...

Classic Jon Stewart

It was fun to watch Stewart dismantle Glenn Beck's argument that progressivism was the disease that ails America. At the Annual CPAC conference, Beck launched into a tirade that blamed everyone from Teddy Roosevelt to FDR for the malaise facing the American economy... (Teddy Roosevelt? Really?!) At one point Beck claimed that he learned all of his quasi anti-progressive American history from the Library at which point Stewart stopped and said:

"Glenn, the library isn't free! It's paid for with tax money. Free public libraries are the result of the Progressive movement to communally share books. The first public library was the Boston public library in 1854. It's statement of purpose: every citizen has the right to access community owned resources. Community owned? That sounds just like communist. You're a communist!"

It just reminds me that on a fundamental level even my sense of humor tilts to the left. Stewart, for the most part, bases his humor on showing how off, how stupid, and how ass-backward his targets are. Beck, on the other hand, tends to base his humor on the grand idea that we are all victims of a conspiracy. To my mind one of the problems with Beck's thesis is that the conservatives are honest and pure in their intentions. But, once we start shining the light on one conspiracy can the Republicans really stand up to such scrutiny? Won't we find just as many holes in conservatism as progressivism? To state it more clearly, I don't think either point of view has a lock on the truth. Both need each other and unfortunately we are stuck in the middle. I think change will happen but it's not going to be as neat and tidy as Obama lead us to believe.

The End of the Middle Class

Marc Fitten, New York Times Op-Ed Contributor, wrote an excellent article for the Sunday edition titled Life Underwater In the article he writes about being a good boy, following the rules, living conservatively, never living on credit, and hoping to send his kids to college one day. Over the last few years he has seen the value of his home drop $70k, wiping out all of his equity. He classifies himself as part of the new suburban poor.

That was on page 10; on page 4 the Prime Number is 345 Follow the link because you will find a cornucopia of interesting data in this little paragraph. The basic premise is this:
•$345 million is the average earned by the 400 highest earning households
•The number is up from $263 million
•The average tax rate these households paid was 16.6% the lowest since the IRS started keeping track
•The top 400 households earned $138 billion in 2007, that's a 76% increase over the previous year.

So middle class homeowners are completely underwater and the top earning households are making more money than ever and paying the lowest taxes ever.

Is Obama Hatred Rasict?

I read the Y-Buzz on Kosmix and this article caught my attention: Michelle Obama thinks doubts about her have eased I read the article and it's refreshing to see that she had a high approval rating and that she was treated cordially at Fox but all that disappeared when I read the comments. Here's a gem

Yes she's Popular but not in America, Only in Africa and in Philly Zoo

Once again it's clear what Obama hatred is about.

Welcome Back Real Time

Bill Maher roared back from hiatus and I couldn't be happier. He started the show by talking to Elizabeth Warren, the chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for TARP. Warren said the financial system is so broken that it's literally banking lobbyists against American Families.
His panel Elliot Spitzer, former Governor of New York; Norah O'Donnell, MSNBC correspondent; and Seth McFarlane, creator of Family Guy; were hilarious. Finally Wanda Sykes came out and talked about being black and being gay. It was a great show and you can watch and join the discussions here Real Time.
If you don't have time to watch here are the main points:
1. Bank Lobbyists are destroying any chance of real financial reform
2. Everything that caused the Financial Melt-Down is still happening
3. Eight of the ten new rules to protect consumers from predatory creditors have been subverted
4. Sarah Palin knows how to fain righteous anger and Bill O'Reilly is a douche. Seth McFarlane hired an actress with Down's Syndrome and O'Reilly labeled him as a hater...

The episode features the character Chris falling for a girl with Down syndrome. On a date, he asks what her parents do. She replies: "My dad's an accountant, and my mom is the former governor of Alaska."

Last night, Palin appeared on The O'Reilly Factor and said, "This world is full of cruel, cold-hearted people" and asked, "When are we going to say this stuff isn't really funny?"

O'Reilly then asked her why she called for the resignation of Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel but didn't come down on Rush Limbaugh even though both men used the "r word?"

Of Course we know that it is OK for Limbaugh to use the r word because HE is a satirist...
5. Obama and the Democrats are PUSSIES. They are on the right side of every issue and still let the Republicans frame the debate.
6. Teabaggers are idiots Only 12 percent of the public say that the Obama administration has lowered their taxes since coming to office, despite the fact that the White House's stimulus package cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans, a new opinion survey found.
7. DADT needs to be repealed.
There's more but you'll have to watch clips to get the real deal.

Type Training Challenge

Here's a 20 minute effort on a type treatment for Thursday/Friday Eve

This Internet Machine Brings Out the Crazies

Every morning I love to read the Yahoo Buzz on Kosmix. It's full of insightful and concise rhetoric about the important stories in the news. Here's a little tidbit for you:
Obama says stimulus bill saved troubled economy from the AP. The first comment is a thoughtful examination of the story

More BS from the greatest liar of all time, the rest of the money will be spent trying to get his pals reelected.
They must go now, vote them out

But, here's what I loved. You have to keep in mind that most of the comments are from deranged neocons and this lone dissenter was taken to task. A user named Dubya says:

Thank you Obama for doing a good job to Rebuild America after Bush Destroyed America

Bush Ruined and Bankrupted America for his greed for Oil

and then 21 people read him or her the riot act (well some agree). Here is one of the best responses:

Well, One day you will grow Up and understand that Not only did Bush not Cause the Recession or Depression if thats what they wish to call it but in fact CONGRESS,, Yes CONGRESS is the Ones that Caused the Recession,,, IE: They are the ones that Passed the LOAN for Homes that people whom were on Lower Income Scales and that is the Program that was put Into Place By CONGRESS and Signed By President Clinton , it is also a BILL that President Clinton Wanted. I commend what He was Attempting to do for those that do pay their Bills on time and deserved to be able to afford a Home but the Same Democratic CONGRESS that paased that also let those same PEOPLE lose their Homes. Read the facts,, as for the War and its Cost,, it has been Paid for by the Taxes of Diesel Fuel. So when you are more better Informed and can Make Rational decissions then you might be a Helpful member of Society, till then you just wasted your Breath as I just have on YOU!

Even if there were good points to be made you wouldn't be able to find them in the mess of poor spelling and bad grammar.

Obviously the real issue here is why did Google name their social networking branch Buzz? Yahoo Buzz has been around for about two years and is only tepidly popular. Google wants it's Buzz to be a Facebook killer but I doubt that will happen anytime soon.

Were They Christian?

It's almost impossible to know what the Founding Fathers believed... Sure you can extrapolate from their writings but it's important to realize the whole mythology and concept of the Founders is over blown. Jefferson and Adams for example became bitter enemies, although the worked together during the revolution. It wasn't until they both retired from politics that they reconciled. Ironically they both died within hours of each other on the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4th 1826.

So while they Founders were sometimes bitter rivals what did they believe? In the case of Jefferson it was quite radical. On the site Beliefnet you can find a version of Jefferson's Bible. A bible that he cut and pasted to assemble the teachings of Jesus without miracles and virgin birth. Jefferson said he wanted to separate the "diamonds from the dunghill." Exactly what did her remove from his version:
The virgin birth—gone.
Christ's bodily resurrection—gone.
The miracles of the loaves, walking on water, raising Lazarus—none of them made Jefferson's book

What about James Madison? Here are a few quotes:

"Ecclesiastical establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption, all of which facilitate the execution of mischievous projects."

and this

"What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people."

Jefferson and Madison are just two examples. Adams was a Unitarian and didn't believe in the concept of the Trinity or the Divinity of Jesus... To say these men were not christian would be a stretch but to say the wanted to establish the United States as a christian nation would also be a stretch.

Christian Nation

Did the "Founding Fathers" intend the United States to be a Christian Nation? Christianistas would have you think so but was that really the case? If you take a look at the first 150 years, of the colonies, you will find religious intolerance was rife. Protestantism was preferable, Catholicism was not, and Jews were an anathema. In Massachusetts Quakers were beaten, arrested, deported and executed. Yes the man on you favorite oatmeal was the scourge of the colonies. Pennsylvania was founded as a refuge for the persecuted Quakers and Maryland was founded for Catholics. Although Catholics were not safe for long in Maryland. The Puritans burned all of the Catholic churches in Southern Maryland. Actually it was George Washington who promoted tolerance of Catholics to curry favor with the French, as an ally, a predominantly Catholic country.

The words God and Creator are each mentioned only once in the Declaration of Independence. The word God is never mentioned in the Constitution. Isn't strange that if the Founding Fathers wanted this to be a Christian Nation that they would leave God out of the Constitution?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

It wasn't until the 14th amendment, in 1868, that the Bill of Rights was applied to the States. Until then The States could establish religion and sanction it. The Restoration period, after the Civil War, changed the nature of the Constitution forever.

More about the beliefs of the Founding Fathers tomorrow.

RNC Chair an Idiot

Michael Steele, Republican Idiot, say the Dems are running for the hills. Never mind the fact that only 3 democrats are retiring while 6 republicans are retiring. Since twice as many republicans are retiring compared to democrats does that mean they are already in the hills?

I guess another way to look at it would be 5% of democrats are running for the hills and 14% or republicans are running for the hills. Either way I think Evan Bayh, who was leading his opponent by 20 points, is a pussy. If you don't like something you work to change it not quit!