Maggie Mahar, Money Driven Medicine

♥

"It is, but single payer is not the battle this round, regardles of that sad reality. Americans themselves aren't educated and enlightened enough yet about single payer to mount a forceful opposition to the insurance companies. I don't see it anyway. Even the fight to get them to grasp a public option is proving incredibly hard."
==
What percentage of the population supports single payer? There are numbers given, something like .66 or higher. seems to me that the majority already supports S-P. The problem is channelling it for the rigged US political system, where big money holds sway. But it can be done. (Get off of that elitist dismessal stuff.)

“You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.” - Wayne Gretzky

Healthcare:
http://www.healthcare-now.org/another-poll-shows-majority-support-for-si...

Just found out BRL has ceased. I wasn't watching at the end of last week... I noted the reruns this week but I didn't know for sure until I asked on the chat board there and was directed to the "Last Show".

I think I was tuned to the Sotomayor hearings last week, Al Franken's sense of humor, the Perry Mason episode exchange with the nominee, then Leahy asked AF to name the episode in question, Al didn't know, he was just chatting. He's a breath of fresh air, he's different. Will he stay that way?

AA wasn't a bad listen, I listened a lot. I was listening to the Majority Report the night S&J said there was a poll on the Hannity site asking whether Reagan should be on the 10$ bill. Listeners went over there and pounded the no button. The programming was poor(didn't matter I stil would have pulled a Great McGinty by changing my Ip addy) and didn't lock out multiple clicks. It was a good laugh.

Good luck guys, I'll miss yaz until you pop up again.

Healthcare:
http://laborforsinglepayer.org/

Oh Leah, please! I'm not dismissing anything from the current dialogue that hasn't already been accepted or dismissed by the party at large and apparently by most "Progressives" in Congress who don't seem to be even mustering the stones to whip for a public option, much less, single-payer.

Where are the numbers for single payer support you're touting? 66%!? I would love to see them and the poll question(s) demonstrating that the public even grasps the concept of single-payer to begin with. I don't buy that they do, but I am more than willing to consider the argument that we should have started the negotiation at single-payer if some data can prove that it was anything other than a pipe dream and that the Democrats could have actually made advances on the PR front in educating the public about it.

The world would be lovely if we had free universal coverage, but we don't and we are a long way off not only from realizing that, but from even a public relations apparatus that is organized and focused enough to power it over the right wing talking points carried by the MSM.

"this machine kills fascists"

internet search, one number I found was 60 percent, and that is with our two political parties opposing it, for the most part. That, and a media that will not report the facts on single-payer.

You will not find "the Democrats... ma[king] advances on the PR front in educating the public about" single-payer healthcare. That's up to you and others to organize the population, the majority of whom already support a single-payer option--without information from the media.

Hello!

By Russell Mokhiber
CounterPunch.org
April 16, 2009
---
Outside the beltway cesspool/hot tub, the majority of doctors, nurses, small businesses, health economists, and the majority of the American people – according to recent polls – want a Canadian-style, single payer, everybody in, nobody out, free choice of doctor and hospital, national health insurance system.

Inside the beltway cesspool/hot tub, the corrupt elite will have none of it.

They won’t even put single payer on the table for discussion...
The Top Ten Enemies of Single-Payer:
American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).

AARP, one of DC’s most powerful lobbying groups, has worked inside the beltway for years to defeat single payer. Why? AARP makes about a quarter of its money selling insurance through its affiliate, United Healthcare Group, the nation’s largest for-profit insurance company. AARP must defeat single payer – which if enacted, would wipe out that revenue stream.

American Health Insurance Plans (AHIP).

The private health insurance industry. Public enemy number one. The health insurance corporations must die so that the American people can live. Of course, facing the death penalty, AHIP is the most aggressive opponent to single payer. No compromise with AHIP.

American Medical Association.

With a shrinking base of doctors (only 25 percent of doctors nationwide belong) – the AMA is the most conservative of the doctors’ organizations. I just returned from a health care policy forum at the Center for American Progress. As usual, not one of the panelists mentioned single payer. Only during the question period did a self-identified patient/citizen ask the single payer question. And a pit bull-like Nancy Nielsen, president of the AMA, ripped into the questioner. “Sounds more like a statement than a question,” Nielsen said. “And clearly you have a point of view about that. And I don’t happen to share that point of view.” Clearly she doesn’t. But just as clearly, the majority of doctors, probably even a majority of doctors who belong to the AMA, support single payer. Nielsen is in denial and must be defeated.

Barack Obama.

He was for it when he was a state Senator in Illinois. Now, ensconced in the corporate prison that is the White House, he says single payer is off the table. To get off the list, Obama needs to put single payer back on the table.

Business Roundtable.

Dr. David Himmelstein, co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), was at a health care forum a couple of years ago sponsored by the Business Roundtable. And the moderator asked the audience – made up primarily of representatives of big business – to indicate their preference of health care reforms. And the majority came out in favor of single payer. Why then is the Business Roundtable opposed? Himmelstein put it this way: “In private, they support single payer, but they’re also thinking – if you can take away someone else’s business – the insurance companies’ business – you can take away mine. Also, if workers go on strike, I want them to lose their health insurance. And it’s also a cultural thing – we don’t do that kind of thing in this country.”
...
http://www.calnurses.org/media-center/in-the-news/2009/april/the-top-10-...

out there?

you would know I support all progressive ideals, but I am a Democrat, that is my party and is the party in charge of making policy, so I make sure my action is focused bearing the strengths and weaknesses of the party in mind.

I work to advance what I believe are the systems we should have in place and if there is no apparatus set up to realize the ultimate progressive landscape in the now, then I work for what is actually achievable in hopes that it can be built upon and refined by future legislation.

Moreover, I don't let my heart get in the way of my head. I can see why things are not possible given today's political landscape and understand fully why most Democrats are perceived as unable to get anything accomplished: as a movement, the left has serious financing problems: they can't raise money.

Up until Barack Obama and the netroots came along, the prospects of Progressives moving the ball forward politically were laughable. Now we are a building force and I am excited to be part of that, but when I see that the "Progressive Caucus" of the HoR, which is almost twice as large as the Blue Dogs, can't even manage to whip it's most progressive half behind united and unequivocal support of a public option, what chance does a full-blown single payer plan have? I have to say none right now.

Does that mean I am going to stop working for it? No. But I am not going to turn on my party's shift in objective in doing so. The battle is for the public option. I worked with Kucinich by making calls, sending faxes, petitioning and passing along great news on the passage of his single payer amendment and will work to educate people on single payer benefits, but I'm not blind to reality and I certainly don't see my party as hopeless. I've made that perfectly clear. I am a Democrat and I have no problem expressing pride in that.

In terms of the first poll you provided, that was nice to hear back in February, but a lot has happened since then and public sentiment has been swayed and, in my view, it was easily compromised considering the money being poured into political campaign coffers by the insurance industry. Moreover, the poll is very general and is not health care specific, so I question that people understand that it would indicate the destruction of the private insurance industry altogether.

Is this clear support for single payer public health insurance? It certainly wasn't majority support at 49% and I'm not convinced a health-care focused poll would produce even that for 100% universal health care.

"this machine kills fascists"

Almost every Democrat but Kucinich and a few others would be rolled over on their backs with their legs in the air letting the Republicans smell them.

Do they even know how to be alpha dogs after they win an election???

People will die because of them rolling over on Single Payer.

Can't help it, but it hurts.

The United Nations is facing a $4.8 billion shortfall in funding for humanitarian aid to the world’s poorest countries. At the top of that list are Zimbabwe, Palestine and Kenya, which face increasingly dire financial needs. Although emergency relief donations have risen, the global credit crunch has made it harder for developed countries to keep pace with the need.

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/20090721_un_faces_nearly_5_b...

He's lucky he wasn't tasered.

Good job, Randi.

The story:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/21/AR200907...

The Democratic Party serves the needs of the corporations, over those of the majority.

Money. Without campaign financing corporate lobbyists provide, the left loses nd loses BIG.

Republicans are alpha dogs? By saying that you acknowledge that "alpha" means being united and firm in their objectives and Republicans are only that way because they are 100% bought and paid for and because they deliver 100% consistent votes for corporate interests. If they didn't have that cash, things would be totally different.

Democrats decided long ago that without some of that money, in this system, they're fucked. The only way to dismantle it is from the inside out.

"this machine kills fascists"

It is very gratifying for me to see Shannyn Moore on her way up while Sarah Palin is on her way out...

I remember there was a period of time during the campaign when I genuinely feared for Moore's physical safety....

Glad she survived.

The Democrats' Big Betrayal

Single-Payer, a Dream Denied

By RICHARD RHAMES

“[Democratic Party] activists dropped a tougher platform amendment seeking a government-run, single-payer system...”

“Guaranteed Health Care Key Plank in Democrat’s Platform,” AP, 8/11/08

Stick a fork in ‘em, they’re done as an advocate for the majority. Actually, the Democratic Party, for decades little more than a quirky wing of the Property Party, has been done for a while. Yet some of us --- damaged optimists, deluded dreamers, dissenters to mass murder --- held out hope for a turn. Against all available evidence we wished and worked in our small and pathetic ways to preserve the Party as a vehicle for completing the New Deal, and bringing the US partially into the civilized world. We failed. It’s official.

...When polled, the public has long overwhelmingly expressed support for governmentally guaranteed single-payer health care. Yet even at the height of the New Deal, such a plan was squashed by insiders. Truman brought it up again in his time. Nope.

After decades of tireless organizing, there seemed to be an opening with the election of The Man From Hope in the early 90s. Bill Clinton had ridden to power on a platform of massive public investment and national health care. He promptly put his better half, WalMart mouthpiece Hillary C. in charge. She held closed-door confabs with insurance company executives (think Dick Cheney’s energy policy meetings) and ultimately proposed a two-tier health care regime which built-in the three biggest insurance companies and consigned those of modest means to a “budget” plan. Those with money could buy Cadillac care. Those without would be offered a go-cart. “Choice,” they called it. In today’s lingo, any “reform” that might have cut insurance company profits was “off the table.”

In 1993, one of the single-payer movement’s most prominent leaders, Dr. David Himmelstein (Physicians for a National Health Program) gained some face-time with Ms. Clinton. The Washington Monthly reported, “Himmelstein’s studies, published in the New England Journal of Medicine since 1986, showed that the U.S. could save as much as $67 billion in administrative costs alone by cutting out the 1,500 private insurers and going to a single government insurer in each state --- easily enough to pay to cover every uninsured American.”[..]
http://www.counterpunch.org/rhames08162008.html

So you believe that Progressives are the majority in this country?

I wish I did. I definitely don't.

"this machine kills fascists"

that if the public realized that government sponsored single payer healthcare would spell the end of the private health insurance industry, they would reject single payer? (Is that what you hear in your Democratic Party inner circle?)

There's a reason for that, nora.
new
Submitted by 60th Street on Tue, 07/21/2009 - 5:41pm.
Money. Without campaign financing corporate lobbyists provide, the left loses nd loses BIG.

Republicans are alpha dogs? By saying that you acknowledge that "alpha" means being united and firm in their objectives and Republicans are only that way because they are 100% bought and paid for and because they deliver 100% consistent votes for corporate interests. If they didn't have that cash, things would be totally different.

Democrats decided long ago that without some of that money, in this system, they're fucked. The only way to dismantle it is from the inside out.

...
=================

We agree on the money part for sure. However, I think the actions of the Dems and Obama differ from your mental construct of what the Dem party represents; your description is alot different from what I see (perceive) as the way the Dem Party is expressing itself right now.

I see the fingerprints of the DLC (which itself is covered by the fingerprints of the entrenched longterm Oligarchy) all over the Dems right now. Those are corporatist fingerprints. And in this case the corportists are corruptly rigging the game so that they can CONTINUE FOR GENERATIONS to make insane PROFITS from the plight of the sick and dying.

keeps saying "A moderate conservative democrat."

Are there "moderate liberal republicans?

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbennett

My cilantro plant went to seed -- CORIANDER seed!

The seeds weren't all the way dry and tough yet. I plucked off the seeds and put them in some frozen corn I was cooking.

Tastes wonderful!

any one else unable to get google?

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbennett

Now who's being condescending, Leah? Don't be so quick to betray your nobility.

I'm saying that Democrats suck at PR. I have lamented that for years, to the point that I believe Obama to be practically their only hope. He chose the public option road and I'm behind him. If it was a mistake to rule out single payer for now, so be it, we'll soon find out, or we may never know. I may lament it, but, again, I'm not abandoning the only party that is currently capable of ever delivering it.

I think Americans could get behind single payer universal health care if a PR machine were in place to educate them about it and to burn Republican talking points to the ground. But I simply don't see that happening given the current timeline for helath care reform.

Do I think the public is forcefully behind ending the private insurance industry's reign right now, today, and installing a 100% taxpayer-funded universal health care system?

No.

Do I think Progressives and Obama could run a strong PR blitz to sway enough of the public to pressure Congress to support a "robust public option" with a single payer option for the states. And, do I think this would allow for progress toward a universal federal-level public health care system?

Yes.

"this machine kills fascists"

Biden backs Ukraine's Nato bid

The US "strongly supports" Ukraine's plans to join Nato, the US vice president has said during a visit to the former Soviet republic.

"We do not recognise ... anyone else's right to dictate to you ... what alliance you will seek to belong to, or what bilateral relationships you have," Joe Biden said after talks with Viktor Yushchenko, the Ukranian president, on Tuesday.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/07/200972112751858420.html

While letting health reform die, it's been quite a month for the non-racist corporatist party:

Propping up the corrupt government of Somalia.
Fomenting a coup in Central America.
Moving troops into striking range of Venezuela
Encircling Russia
Insuring the hegemony on Monsanto over India
And of course, carrying the Corporate Man's Burden to Central Asia.
Well there won't be any health reform coming form this government. It was never a priority for the Messiah anyway. Thank god, he's got the Blue Dogs and Demint to blame.
(BTW Palin's already at 42%.)

It's downright evil the amount of money the networks are getting from the drug companies. Surely no one here thinks the media is on the side of the people in the health care debate. Not with the millions their getting. This is the same bunch that gives a lie validity over the truth, everyday. We will never have a rational discussion about the problems that plague this nation -as long as the corporate media is in charge.

And yes, I do sound like a broken record.

...

We've all taken a stand...

Dont stop edna...

If I hear tweety utter the word co-op as "the" public option regarding healthcare reform one more time I am going to lose it...

sneaky sonofabitch that he is....

You and cent share that perception and you may be right. I don't share it, though, and that is where we differ. I see that Obama does value capitalism and see that he is trying to work with it to achieve a balance between the corporatist and humanitarian mindsets, not only that, but to find a way for them to work together. I believe there is a greater ideology in play here with an eye on strengthening the public lobbies, like the netroots and taming corporate interests long enough to stabilize the economy and eventually instilling a regulatory system that actually works.

Unfortunately, the tentacles of greed are long and sticky and not uneasily unwound in order to get them to a controllable place. Republicans are fighting any sort of public regulatory system and just the liberal ideology in general and being paid well to do it, unfortunatley, compromise is necessary until Democrats have some sort of public leverage against all of this special interest money. But I see progress in that area. The Internet is where I see the most hope and we dominate, so I'm hopeful. :)

"this machine kills fascists"

work etc.

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

Obama’s Justice Department seeks embarrassment exception for Cheney

By Stephen C. Webster

Published: July 21, 2009
Updated 1 hour ago

President Barack Obama’s Justice Department is being very generous to former Vice President Dick Cheney, who has emerged a fierce critic of the current administration.

Arguing before Washington, D.C. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan, Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Smith said Tuesday that the court should not unseal Cheney’s interview with prosecutors during the Valerie Plame case because it could make future vice presidents hesitant to cooperate with investigations. He added that Cheney’s words could also be used for political embarrassment and must be kept under wraps until it can only be used in a “historical context.”

Smith has previously argued that the court should keep Cheney’s words secret because they may turn up on Comedy Central’s fake news program The Daily Show, embarrassing the former vice president.

He asked the court to delay disclosure for 10 years from the day President George W. Bush left office.

con't

http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/07/21/obama-justice-seeks-embarrassment...

edna ellen poe

...

I still call myself a communist, because communism is no more what Russia made of it than Christianity is what the churches make of it.
Pete Seeger

Democrats. Close to useless since 1945:

The Democratic Party, with concern being expressed privately about Roosevelt being able to make it through another term, chose Harry S. Truman as Roosevelt's running mate at the 1944 Democratic convention, after New Deal partisans failed to promote William O. Douglas. Wallace was succeeded as Vice President on January 20, 1945, by Truman. On April 12, 1945, Vice President Truman succeeded to the Presidency when President Franklin D Roosevelt died. Henry A Wallace had missed being the 33rd President of the United States by just 82 days.

Wallace left his editorship position in 1948 to make an unsuccessful run as a Progressive Party candidate in the 1948 U.S. presidential election. His platform advocated friendly relations with the Soviet Union, an end to the nascent Cold War, an end to segregation, full voting rights for blacks,

and universal government health insurance.

His campaign was unusual for his time in that it included African American candidates campaigning alongside white candidates in the American South, and that during the campaign he refused to appear before segregated audiences or eat or stay in segregated establishments.

no I am getting google just fine...

try changing dns servers in your tcpip settings....

Miguel Angel Moratinos, Spain's foreign minister, has visited Gibraltar, the disputed British colony, becoming the first member of the Spanish government to make the trip in 300 years.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/07/200972111515242542.html

Submitted by edna ellen poe on Tue, 07/21/2009 - 6:38p

great on my system

-

It's pretty well-known that Hitler and his propaganda minister, Paul Joseph Goebbels, looked to American advertising for inspiration. What I didn't realize was how proud the advertising industry was about it.

More here:
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/07/21/flashback-to-1933-us-1.html

This seems like a good excuse to link to a Bill Hicks video:
http://vodpod.com/watch/256112-mr-hicks-on-marketing

I've been missing Maddow's show lately, but was thrilled to see her fact check Buchanan's racist bullshit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnx603I42MA

"Open Veins of Latin America;" a training guide for Obama/Biden--

DEPT OF STATE AGREES WITH COUP REGIME IN HONDURAS THAT "NO COUP D'ETAT" HAS TAKEN PLACE; SAYS SHOULD BE A LESSON TO ZELAYA NOT TO FOLLOW VENEZUELA
The State Department finally concluded 3 weeks of ambiguity on its determination of whether or not a coup d'etat has taken place in Honduras. Despite the United Nations, European Union, Organization of American States and every Latin American nation clearly condemning the events as a coup d'etat, the United States government has today stated it doesn't consider a coup has taken place. The Obama administration joins only with the coup regime and its supporters (other coup leaders and/or executors of coups) in that determination.
http://www.chavezcode.com/

This is a fascist govenment. Period.

By JONATHAN COOK

in Nazareth.

The passionate support for Israel expressed on talkback sections of websites, internet chat forums, blogs, Twitters and Facebook may not be all that it seems.

Israel’s foreign ministry is reported to be establishing a special undercover team of paid workers whose job it will be to surf the internet 24 hours a day spreading positive news about Israel.

Internet-savvy Israeli youngsters, mainly recent graduates and demobilised soldiers with language skills, are being recruited to pose as ordinary surfers while they provide the government’s line on the Middle East conflict.

“To all intents and purposes the internet is a theatre in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and we must be active in that theatre, otherwise we will lose,” said Ilan Shturman, who is responsible for the project.

The existence of an “internet warfare team” came to light when it was included in this year’s foreign ministry budget. About $150,000 has been set aside for the first stage of development, with increased funding expected next year.

The team will fall under the authority of a large department already dealing with what Israelis term “hasbara”, officially translated as “public explanation” but more usually meaning propaganda. That includes not only government public relations work but more secretive dealings the ministry has with a battery of private organisations and initiatives that promote Israel’s image in print, on TV and online.

In an interview this month with the Calcalist, an Israeli business newspaper, Mr Shturman, the deputy director of the ministry’s hasbara department, admitted his team would be working undercover.

“Our people will not say: ‘Hello, I am from the hasbara department of the Israeli foreign ministry and I want to tell you the following.’ Nor will they necessarily identify themselves as Israelis,” he said. “They will speak as net-surfers and as citizens, and will write responses that will look personal but will be based on a prepared list of messages that the foreign ministry developed.”

con't

http://www.counterpunch.org/cook07212009.html

DeMint puts nominees on hold over Obama's Honduras policy

WASHINGTON — A South Carolina senator who opposes the Obama administration's handling of the crisis in Honduras is blocking the nominations of two appointees to the State Department.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/72242.html

By RACHEL D'ORO
The Associated Press

Published: July 21st, 2009 12:42 PM
Last Modified: July 21st, 2009 03:09 PM

An independent investigator has found evidence that Gov. Sarah Palin may have violated ethics laws by trading on her position in seeking money for legal fees, in the latest legal distraction for the former vice presidential candidate as she prepares to leave office this week.

The report obtained by The Associated Press says Palin is securing unwarranted benefits and receiving improper gifts through the Alaska Fund Trust, set up by supporters.

An investigator for the state Personnel Board says in his July 14 report that there is probable cause to believe Palin used or attempted to use her official position for personal gain because she authorized the creation of the trust as the "official" legal defense fund.

The practical effect of the ruling on Palin will be more financial than anything else. The report recommends that Palin refuse to accept payment from the defense fund, and that the complaint be resolved without a formal hearing before the board.

The fund aims to help Palin pay off debts stemming from multiple ethics complaints against her, most of which have been dismissed. Palin says she owes more than $500,000 in legal fees, and she cited the mounting toll of the ethics probes as one of the reasons she is leaving office.

con't

http://www.adn.com/palin/story/871750.html

Common Dreams

by CHAZ BUFE

1. Christianity is based on fear

2. Christianity preys on the innocent

3. Christianity is based on dishonesty

4. Christianity is extremely egocentric

5. Christianity breeds arrogance, a chosen-people mentality

6. Christianity breeds authoritarianism

7. Christianity is cruel

8. Christianity is anti-intellectual, anti-scientific

9. Christianity has a morbid, unhealthy preoccupation with sex

10. Christianity produces sexual misery

11. Christianity has an exceedingly narrow, legalistic view of morality

12. Christianity encourages acceptance of real evils while focusing on imaginary evils

13. Christianity depreciates the natural world

14. Christianity models hierarchical, authoritarian organization

15. Christianity sanctions slavery

16. Christianity is misogynistic

17. Christianity is homophobic

18. The Bible is not a reliable guide to Christ's teachings

19. The Bible is riddled with contradictions

20. Christianity borrowed its central myths and ceremonies from other ancient religions

This pamphlet briefly looks at many of the reasons that Christianity is undesirable from both a personal and a social point of view.

http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=98&contentid=6170

Mullet: Forgive me Farter for i have //raped three little girls//
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/were-not-kidding-they-really-are....
Doug Coe: "big deal!"

Kewl ;)
by Leah on Tue, 07/21/2009 - 3:52pm.

//Sorry, but until we treat this planet, and ourselves, better...
we have no right to impose on another IMHO.//
http://www.samsedershow.com/node/5040#comment-355292

well cee-cee
i know a lady who has a plan
and it's only a click away
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/latenightlive/stories/2009/2632259.htm

Submitted by 60th Street on Tue, 07/21/2009 - 2:57pm.
--------
I agree with you 60th Street and I am amazed that I cannot pick a nit, elucidate, expand upon, or otherwise add something after "but." I must be slipping.

Once again I'm witnessing someone (60th) coping with political reality as it exists today, right now, and defending his thoughts against a bevy of cynics who counter "Yeah, but what about lobby money...and corporatists...and the evils of capitalism...and the fucked-up two party system..." ad nauseam.

Here is the deal, folks: Anyone who can cogently express how he sees the health care conundrum winding its way through our political system ALREADY KNOWS all of that cynical crap that many of you think your brilliance has a lock on.

I know how fucked up the political and social system in America is. 60th knows it. toniD knows it. The chances are at least 50/50 that those of us who are focused on making things happen in the existing system could school the rest of you on some of the finer points of cynicism.

However, identifying the horseshit on the playing field is a cakewalk when compared to finding a route to the goal without stepping in crap or (more precisely) trying to run toward the goal with horseshit caked on both feet.

It goes like this in the average blog conversation: One of us says the health care system needs to be significantly changed. Then someone else says that the campaign and lobby money has to be changed before health care can be changed.

Then someone else says that corporatism has to change before lobby money can be changed before health care can be changed.

Then someone else says that capitalism has to change before corporatism can be changed before lobby money can be changed before health care can be changed.

Then someone else pipes up, saying that the political party system is the root of all evil.

And on and on.

Meanwhile, Canada and France and Great Britain have managed to change their health care systems without eliminating the influence of cash, without eliminating corporations, without eliminating capitalism, and without outlawing political parties.

So, if your particular bailiwick is changing the campaign finance system or the lobby cash system or the influence of corporations or the capitalist system or the party system in America, I say more power to you.

But when someone like 60th gives his considered examination of how health care reform is moving (and is likely to move) across the pinball machine of politics, and the best you have to offer is a laundry list of our fucked-up political system, then you should bow out of the health care discussion and focus on the overarching problem as you define it.

In other words, if someone expresses how to best marinate and grill a rib eye steak and you are a vegetarian, then the rib eye post wasn't written for you. Scroll it and post something within an area of your interest and expertise. Accusing the ribeye chef of being unaware of the American culture of beef and the wasted resources and cruelty therein is to assume that he isn't privy to the particulars of beef production.

Nearly everyone who participates on this blog is already well-schooled in the background information. If they were not, they wouldn't understand half of the opinions being kicked around here.

//The passionate support for Israel expressed on talkback sections of websites, internet chat forums, blogs, Twitters and Facebook may not be all that it seems.//

what are you saying, edna
that sometimes there's more to the picture
http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2009/07/21/tomo/

//Israel’s foreign ministry is reported to be establishing a special undercover team of paid workers whose job it will be to surf the internet 24 hours a day spreading positive news about Israel.//

why, why, that's tantamount to a conspiracy!
and you know "conspiracy" is a dirty word
so i'm docking your severance pay
(sorry)
but crank's having a nose bleed

...differing opinions...I don't see why you have to insult people with differing opinions, Crank...

It sounds much more profound and sincere that way....

Yawn SSDD

but 60th's premise rests on that this is only round 1

i pray he's right...

believe me, i'm not being snarky
my heart really bleeds for you guys

To win his healthcare plan, Obama must define it
By Joan Walsh
Tuesday July 21, 2009

I think of myself as a policy wonk. And yet on the biggest policy issue of the day, healthcare reform, I've been as silent as Michael Steele, who surreally confessed Monday that he can call Obama's health plan "socialism" but doesn't need to master the details because he does politics, not policy.

Steele's idiocy shamed me out of my silence. To be fair (to myself) I'm proud of Robert Reich's work in our pages, and Mike Madden's and Alex Koppelman's, and Michael Lind's great piece Tuesday lays out Obama's and the Democrats' choices clearly (and pessimistically, in terms of where they'll likely land). But I still think it's important to focus in my own writing on the economic, social and political stakes involved in Obama's passing the kind of comprehensive healthcare reform he's been talking about.

Except: I'm not entirely sure what he's been talking about.

I know Obama has a nearly impossible task, dealing with Blue Dog Democrats and crazy Republicans -- from Wild Bill Kristol, chickenhawk, telling the GOP to "go for the kill" and do whatever it takes to defeat Obama on healthcare, to Sen. Jim DeMint's similarly sinister prediction that if Republicans defeat Obama on healthcare "it will break him." GOP zealots are clearly more interested in killing or breaking President Obama -- politically, of course; I don't think they are assassins, personally -- than helping Americans get the healthcare they need. It's a little creepy, but once you've watched a crazy "birther" hector moderate Republican Mike Castle about Obama's birth certificate and other related delusions -- well, then nothing Republicans do can surprise you.

Then there's the media. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Obama had to move his Wednesday press conference, which is expected to zero in on the importance of serious health care reform, an hour earlier, because three of four national networks balked at preempting their top-rated shows. According to THR: "Fox declined to air the press conference outright. NBC and ABC fell into line late Monday after the White House shifted the event’s time from the previously announced 9 p.m. to the lesser-watched hour of 8 p.m." What shows were they worried about? "America's Got Talent," "So You Think You Can Dance," "Wipeout" and "I Survived a Japanese Game Show!"

more
http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/politics/2009/07/21/obama_health_care...

remember those wild pups at hyde park?

how are they doing? i think of them often

Watch LIVE: Thousands of people, children and adults have thronged the sky watching sites across the country with their solar goggles to watch the eclipse. (NDTV photo)

http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_live.php?id=LIVE_BG24x7

Free Democracy

...listening now.

is that eclipse visible here on the west coast?

i couldn't find any info on it

here's a thought about the problem of campaign finance
i assume it's all about buying time on tv, ok

now if single-payer was fought for & acheived, this would change in the public's mind that democrats are spineless & corrupt

so come election time, the need for great wads of cash to adverise your wares would not be as pressing, because (and this conjecture) the viewing public would dismiss republican claims that they saw

"fuck those phoney's, we're sticking with the democrats"

however, we're stuck in the now
and the now is we're stuck with blue dogs & the dlc

(dash it all)

i wonder who Survived a Japanese Game Show?

I think it was the thunder storm this am

on the university server now - no prob.

“Hungry Freaks, Daddy” by Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

eya kev
new
Submitted by Sunshine Jim on Tue, 07/21/2009 - 8:53pm.

is that eclipse visible here on the west coast?

******

I don't know Jim ....it's dawn in India so I am not sure if we could see that. anyway looks like any other eclipse I have seen ....
8-)

let us know the verdict: was it worth the time
and if it was, i demand compensation!
my fee: get her name out
: )

now why don't we know about Vandana Shiva and her earth saving deeds?

answer: public enemy #1
(see edna for details)

Well, one for sure is great! I have her.

One was picked up by animal control and given to a no-kill shelter, one vanished without a trace and another one is still out there roaming the park. I see her about once a week and always from very far away. She is a survivalist for sure.

The parents were also captured by AC. Dad lived and went to a no-kill shelter and I have no idea what happened to mom. I hope she is okay..she was more fearful than aggressive so I think she probably lived.

Here's the one I have hanging with my niece :)

"this machine kills fascists"

the bottom link is what i'm watching.

happening in a few minutes!

http://www.eclipsesolar.es/live.html

Well, they fly regularly around here, Alice, depending on the passion trend of the moment.

Most partake in them, either actively or passive aggressively *cough* when they get fed up enough with what they perceive as the opposing camp's drivel.

I can definitely handle myself. :)

"this machine kills fascists"

ok, pretend we're strategists
Submitted by air-ono on Tue, 07/21/2009 - 8:55pm.

********

I rather pretend I am a Pirate Ninja ....

some info here

http://www.fi.upm.es/?id=tablon&acciongt=consulta1&idet=269

exerpt:

8 July 2009. In partnership with Madrid Regional Government’s ASTROCAM network and Extremadura Regional Government’s Department of Youth and Sports, the Ciclope Group led by Francisco Manuel Sánchez Moreno of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid’s School of Computing is to Internet broadcast the 21st century’s longest total solar eclipse from the Chinese city of Chongqing on 22 July 2009. The eclipse’s is central duration will be over six minutes.

Submitted by air-ono on Tue, 07/21/2009 - 9:00pm.
let us know the verdict: was it worth the time
and if it was, i demand compensation!
my fee: get her name out
: )

...everywhere. Fee paid: I emailed everyone in my contact list including my congressman and senators. Thank you! I needed that:)

our super-secret organization is now recruiting for a pirate ninja
now before we employ you, um
is that a stealth peg-leg
because there's a lot of sneaking up on people

yeah, she was definitely uplifting

corporations vs the people

do we remain in a our infancy?

qualifications:
1. no offence to boa constrictors
2. this is a simplification - the reality to turn the tide is far more daunting

they're both beauties!

my heart is eased a bit, every once in a while i watch them play, i loved that little white one with the black ears and nose that romped with Lola.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnblWFawYv4

my caption choice is: "The Peril of Trusting Your Government"

...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PHnRIn74Ag

Really Smart Facebook Campaign to Kick Some Blue Dogs
Posted by maggiesboy
By: Jane Hamsher
Tuesday July 21, 2009

Max Bernstein and James Boyce of dotPAC are running a campaign of facebook ads in the districts of the 7 Blue Dog obstructionists, asking people who are constituents to call or leave messages on their Facebook walls.

I asked the dotPAC folks how much it would cost to run these ads effectively, and they said $35 per day per representative.

more
http://tonidsyathink.blogspot.com/2009/07/really-smart-facebook-campaign...

(fight the power!)

That was an interesting write up, and I would love to see people based letter writing campaigns like that because I actually think we have someone in the WH who might actually listen. I think there are a lot of people out there crossing their fingers.

I wouldn't mind taking part in that and sending my thoughts along.

ono, I honestly think that the public at large doesn't keep tabs on who's bought off and who isn't unless there is a solid media presence exposing this, but I do think they understand the battle is on and it's important to appear both fair and strong and not totally obstructionist. The Blue Dogs have conservative constituencies and they have to worry about and I don't think Obama's convinced them he's got staying power and they obviously have identity conflicts.

I think people in general are just inclined to think that all politicians are corrupted to some degree by special interests and people have no real sense of proportion as to who actually floods the system with more money. After all the right wing propaganda, I would imagine they think Greenpeace and George Soros contribute as much as Exxon and Blue Cross Blue Shield, which is just completely insane.

"this machine kills fascists"

ingrates

by mickeyz
2009 July 21 04:20:20

80% of all life on earth
is found in the oceans

the oceans create over half our oxygen
they keep the earth habitable

human reaction to all his?

70% of coral reefs may be gone
in less than 40 years

every square mile of ocean contains
46,000 pieces of floating plastic

the planet's largest landfill is
floating in the north pacific ocean

90% of the large fish are gone

oops...am i being negative again?

*

Now...and I'm staying here... (fair warning)....

http://twitcam.com/20z

it has potential...
for instance, the boy is smiling because the beast is tamed

so don't get me wrong
i believe in the free market, in free enterprise

now corporations must maximize profits - that's the law
however, they have to be subjected to laws that don't fuck up the planet & benefit society

i see that now...
thanks america

down here, people don't vote for individual pelicans, sorry, politicians
they vote for what the party is perceived to stand for

right now, the democrats have an image problem
(and it's steeped in reality)

by allowing blue dogs to continue to pollute the image
it's best to have republicans in those seats

So do I, but only to the extent that they are restricted to ventures that do not affect the public's right of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness...

Things like Healthcare, education, energy, agriculture, finance need to be heavily regulated if not fully nationalized...

Let the greedheads compete over widgets and who makes the best car or computer in as cut throat a fashion as they want to, as long as they don't destroy the country in the process....

Submitted by Alice on Tue, 07/21/2009 - 8:27pm.
...differing opinions...I don't see why you have to insult people with differing opinions, Crank...
------
Call it what you will. I certainly can't stop you.

60th wrote several posts focused on how the health care issue has been and is likely to bounce its way through our political system.

If you choose to reply to his musings with something completely off-subject, then I say that 60th is discussing color and you are interjecting your thoughts on sound. There is no relationship between the two beyond both of them being "stuff."

If you are not referring to my recent rant concerning 60th's thoughts and, instead, are referring to my opinion of nora's opinions (my confusion is due to you not having taken the trouble to convey the specific root of your comment), then I say this: I was not insulting nora. I believe that she is a lunatic who gets her endorphin rush from going as far outside of the flow as she possibly can.

nora's mindset isn't new to me nor to anyone else with enough awareness to participate on this blog: She gets her rocks off by believing that she is among the cognizant few who recognize that shit happens behind the scenes. She is only a tick different from militia survivalists, that tick being that she writes like she's stocking rations in a cave while she is actually living among us where it's more comfortable.

We could all while away our lives as nora does, pointing and screaming "J'accuse!", but identifying scalawags and skullduggery is a far cry from, and far easier than, erecting something from the shit pile. Trust me, even in your anarchist's utopia nora would be the "outsider" wailing about the evil within it. It's her raison d'etre. Utopia is her worst nighmare.

And yes, nothing nora can dredge up is likely to make me believe that she knows something that I have not already examined, and that there are not man-made footprints on the moon.

nora is not wrong every time on every subject, but that does not excuse her unyielding penchant for tin foil and black helicopters. She lives for that stuff.

To paraphrase a favorite of dr's, even a blind paranoid lunatic finds an acorn once in a while.

I could cite a number of authors who have written about the phenomenon of distrust in America. The list is long. I understand how and why it came to be. Gunner Joe made a political career out of it. Nixon validated it. Lt. Col. North is famous for it.

It is the cynic in me, not the starry-eyed idealist in me, who recognizes nora for what she is.
--------------------
Incidentally, some asshole dumped two puppies on me. Neither is much beyond the suckling stage, if that. I consulted with the no-kill shelter today which is (like all of them in my opinion) a no-kill shelter until they are full, which they always are, so they refuse to take more animals which places us all back at square one. They save a handful of animals and the remaining hundreds starve in the boonies.

One of the two pups is likely to be dead by morning based on my not-professional opinion of its weakened state and its unwillingness to eat the puppy mush I offer to them. The other one is probably going to thrive.

I don't want a dog, let alone two dumped-on-me puppies. I'm torn between becoming the unwilling executioner or the unwilling nursemaid. So far my bleeding heart is the only bloodletting, but I have the distinct feeling that I am doing both of them (certainly the weak one) a disservice by not making a quick end of it.

All of this to say, I'm not in the mood to be fucked with...so I'm outa here.

just wondering

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

it send an unequivocal message: you're a democrat, not a carpetbagger
this is what you stand for
take it or leave it

anyway, gotta make tracks
ciao

(jeez, crank - you have an unhealthy fixation on nora & it shows in your animosity towards her; most unbecoming)

what you've got now isn't free enterprise
it's rape!

(gtg)

I really want a steak now, BTW.

I definitely can recognize my own cynicism, but I dont engage it, I'm mostly just a lurker.

I believe that political outcomes are directly affected by morale and, since morale is a catalyst for productivity, I find cynicism completely counterproductive to anything "progressive". It probably has its place, though, it just doesn't work for me. I'm plenty sarcastic, so I don't know why. If I had to guess I would say that there was a time in my life when I was more prone to depression, but I had an awakening that changed my perspective, and I really don't allow negativity to get a stranglehold on my outlook, at least not for very long.

I understand the ire of others as to the current political situation and respect it to a point, but I have my POV and if people challenge it, I have no problem crafting my arguments.

But, I refuse to be cynical and suspicious of anything except the obviously suspicious (i.e., Republicans). That's the basis for everything I observe, not just politics.

"this machine kills fascists"

http://flyingmoose.org/stage/stage.htm
One of my colleagues, who was working on a Microsoft trade show, had the opportunity to speak to Bill Gates himself. He said what any other good stagehand would have said under the same circumstances:

"Hey, get out of my way, pally. I'm workin' here."

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

No....Preacher says god is pissed...we must sacrifice 1000 virgins and pray real real hard... :)

oh, and we have to donate to the church too...the more we give, the quicker the sun will return...

wanna buy a bridge? ;)

Our ignorance of the world outside our borders, and our assumption that anti-communist stance is all that a chief of state needs to qualify for our support, are errors which compound quickly and work well for our enemies. What has happened already in Cuba, Korea, Turkey, Iraq, and North Vietnam should have taught us bitter lessons.

Yet our government-with the tacit approval of the press-seems content to blame all foreign revolutions on Communists; and after one debacle has passed, we proceed as before to help create the climate in which revolution becomes inevitable.

From the book, "Nation of Sheep", by William Lederer, (c) 1961

I don't want to complicate things but it sounds like you are being tested...

I am sure you will make the right choice. Good luck...

talking about something slamming into
Jupiter ????? Left a hole the size of
the U.S. in its atmosphere?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Fernando r u here?

evening Sederites

I envy that type of national structure. Americans have increasingly embraced a sense of individual panic that transcends party and effectively crafts peoples' identities. How many parties do you have there, anyway, and how does special interest money affect the outcome of elections?

I have long said that people wear their fears as a badge of honor here. I just can't do it. I definitely vote Democratic and see the party as having substantially less reptilian characteristics and more altruistic endeavors, as parties go, than the Republicans.

"this machine kills fascists"

edna ellen poe - that was
written in 61'??
Funny how certain people
knew things way before it
happened - just by the way
the country was going back
then.

It is no different....

pronoid and paranoid are two sides on the same coin....and serve the same purpose to those who choose them.

perhaps, cent, and both can warp your perspective...but, whatever makes you productive, I guess.

You know which I prefer; fear is not an option.

"this machine kills fascists"

"if government insists on secrecy, how could the people assemble to discuss the state of the Nation or petition the Government in the interest of their personal lives and fortunes? That must be the ultimate end of growing secrecy.

"...But an uninformed people must , in the end, become a misinformed people. And a misinformed people, while they may be told that they are safest and happiest in their serfdom to secrecy, are not a free people."

From the book "Nation Of Sheep", (c) 1961.

choice and barely I have read ... BUT SEE NEXT POST FOR REST <<< SJ >>>
;)

quotes. ;)

Saw this on my teevee.

As awkward and simple as Tweety is, he does have his moments.

"this machine kills fascists"

Congress Copying Massachusetts' Failing Healthcare?
WASHINGTON - July 21 -
STEFFIE WOOLHANDLER
Woolhandler is a primary care physician at Cambridge Hospital and associate professor at Harvard Medical School who has studied and written about the Massachusetts healthcare plan.

She said today: "As Washington politicians climb on-board a Massachusetts-style health reform, Massachusetts healthcare sinks.

"Congress seems poised to include an individual mandate in health reform, copying Massachusetts. Here, beating your wife, communicating a terrorist threat and being uninsured all carry $1,000 fines.

"The 2006 Massachusetts reform halved the state's already low uninsurance rate -- mostly by expanding Medicaid and similar programs at great public expense.

"But reform hasn't made care affordable for middle class families, or for the public treasury. A middle income uninsured 56-year-old is now forced to lay out at least $4,800 for a policy with a $2,000 deductible before it pays for any care, and 20 percent co-payments after that. Overpriced, skimpy coverage like this left one in six Massachusetts residents unable to pay their medical bills last year. Among INSURED residents in the state, 18 percent say they skipped care because they couldn't afford it.

"Meanwhile, health costs continue to rise; our state Senate is planning to drop 28,000 people from the insurance rolls, and public hospitals and clinics have suffered draconian cuts as the governor diverts their funding to shore up the reform. The state just cut the budget of Boston Medical Center, the state's largest safety net provider, by $180 million. Cuts to Cambridge Health Alliance, the second largest safety net provider, have forced closure of half of its psychiatric services and six of its community clinics.

"Massachusetts' experience prefigures the ugly reality of the reform plans on the table in Washington. Searching for the $100-$150 billion extra they'd need each year just to cover the uninsured, Congress threatens to tax health benefits for those who are currently insured, effectively increasing the price. And they'd drain Medicare and Medicaid funds from safety net hospitals, anticipating a sharp drop in those unable to pay for care -- a drop that never really materialized in Massachusetts."

Woolhandler testified before the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on June 24 in Washington.

Common Dreams

I highly recommend reading her testimony before commenting..
PNHP

yes...exactly...

with your comments. You are so cogent and clear and brilliant. I could never do that.... and

Crank...it is a shitty thing when we don't really have a choice, choice....my heart is with you and your dilemma.

The Noonan rip is awesome!

"this machine kills fascists"

I was thinking the exact same thing about her today, cent.

It's awesome that Sarah Palin's career implosion has resulted in the opportunity for Moore to capitalize on that to advance hers!

I thought the same about The State reporter Gina Smith Re: Sanford recently, as well.

thanks mhap! :) That was thoughtful!

"this machine kills fascists"

If you haven't done so already..
**
Add your name below to FAIR's petition

Reforming the dysfunctional U.S. healthcare system is a major issue in the news these days. The goal of the reform efforts, we're told, is to expand coverage to the uninsured and to reduce costs. But what many experts and citizens see as the most sensible solution to these problems is kept out of the discussion by the corporate media.

*Yet a recent study by FAIR found that of hundreds of stories about health care in major outlets earlier this year, only five stories included the views of advocates of single-payer--none of which appeared on the television networks.

The insurance lobbies and many politicians may not want to talk about single-payer. But that makes it all the more important that the media do.

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/592/t/9039/petition.jsp?petition_KE...

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Also, BTW Cheers

Bee Kewl

And,many more ! :)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Who is Shannyn Moore?

________________________________

Meg - Dirty Hippie Spicy Mustard-Eating Liberal

The Blue Dogs flunk obedience school

Fiscally conservative Democrats, not Republicans, are Obama's real obstacle on the road to healthcare reform

By Mike Madden

July 22, 2009 | WASHINGTON -- The moment had finally come, Tuesday afternoon, for President Obama to follow through on a pledge that he'd taken some heat for making during last year's campaign: He would meet, and negotiate on key issues, with enemies, no matter how vile they might seem to be. Which is how a group of conservative Blue Dog Democrats from the House found themselves invited into the Oval Office to chat about healthcare policy for an hour.

[...]

Salon

is all kewl, i hope?

http://shannynmoore.wordpress.com/

She's a regular HuffPo contributor too.

"this machine kills fascists"

Liz Cheney defends the Birthers

You'll have to see it to believe it, and the video isn't up yet. But Tuesday night on CNN's "Larry King Live," rising GOP shill/star Liz Cheney refused to denounce the "Birthers" -- the right-wing fringe movement devoted to denying (for a changing array of reasons) that Obama is eligible to be president. Instead, Cheney defended the Birthers by blaming Obama for their rage.

I wasn't planning to blog so I took notes in real-time, and I can't promise Cheney's quote is verbatim. But she said the same thing twice, so I'm confident I caught her drift. After King showed video of the crazy birther who disrupted a meeting with poor GOP Sen. Mike Castle, demanding he acknowledge Obama was born in Kenya (that's one birther claim); and after Carville denounced them as a "poor, pathetic" fringe group, King gave Cheney a chance to distance herself from them. But Cheney demurred, telling King the Birther movement exists because "People are uncomfortable with a president who is reluctant to defend the nation overseas."

The rarely shocked Carville seemed briefly speechless, and even King, not known to be the most combative interviewer, tried a second time to get an honest reaction from Cheney -- which I read as expecting her to separate herself from the crazies. But Cheney repeated her talking point about Obama inadequately defending the nation overseas. Unbelievable.

[...]

Salon

That sound you hear in the background is the next generation of rethugs self destructing....

Rather Wins Access to Thousands of Documents in Suit Against CBS

"Dan Rather won significant victories Tuesday in his suit against his former network, CBS. He won access to more than 3,000 documents that his lawyer said were expected to reveal evidence that CBS had tried to influence the outcome of a panel that investigated his much-debated “60 Minutes” report about former President George W. Bush’s military record."

Birther heads will begin exploding if this gets more play.

"this machine kills fascists"

thank you love, with some people it's not only easy, it's a pleasure! )

I hope not.

My neighor got a ROBO CALL from AARP telling her to go to the AARP website for the latest on the healthcare reform legislation.

Hmmmm.

News filtered through the Insurance Industry and passing as senior advocacy advice.

Sheesh.

You Betcha ! !

**

By RACHEL D'ORO - AP

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – An independent investigator has found evidence that Gov. Sarah Palin may have violated ethics laws by trading on her position as she sought money for lawyer fees, in the latest legal distraction for the former vice presidential candidate as she prepares to leave office this week.

The report obtained by The Associated Press says Palin is securing unwarranted benefits and receiving improper gifts through the Alaska Fund Trust, set up by supporters.

An investigator for the state Personnel Board says in his July 14 report that there is probable cause to believe Palin used or attempted to use her official position for personal gain because she authorized the creation of the trust as her legal defense fund.

The practical effect of the ruling on Palin will be more financial than anything else. The report recommends that Palin refuse to accept payment from the defense fund, and that the complaint be resolved without a formal hearing before the board. That allows her to resolve the issue without a formal ethics reprimand.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090722/ap_on_re_us/us_palin_ethics_complain...

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

hahaha...that special report will be a doozy...

Bgurl says all of those 'Happy Anniversary wishes are very sweet and she's "somewhat blown away"

Thank you folks, we love you all!

Although I still prefer "consciousness raising" to the radicalized frame.

Good points in good writing...

http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/3926

Getting radicalized, slow and painful

July, 16 2009By Jensen, Robert
Robert Jensen's ZSpace Page

[excerpt]

The best way to deal with our individual struggles is to put them in a larger context. That means both understanding the forces that shape our world as well as placing our problems in perspective. Becoming radicalized politically allowed me to see that I was suffering because I didn't want to fit into a world shaped by unjust systems; the problem wasn't my values and desires but the pathology of those systems. That didn't solve all my personal problems, but it sure helped. Radical politics also helped me understand more clearly how others were suffering much more than I; it shook me out of my self-absorption. Both realizations led me to want to continue the search for more knowledge and understanding about how this all worked, and to commit as much time and energy as I had to movements for social justice.

The paradox is that since I have immersed myself in the pain of the world, I have been able to find new joy. I still understand that the world is not a happy place, and to be truly alive we must face what my friend Jim Koplin calls the "sense of profound grief" that comes with looking honestly at the world. As the writer Wendell Berry has put it, we live on "the human estate of grief and joy" [The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture, 3rd ed. (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1996), p. 106]. Grief is inevitable, and it is only through an honest embrace of the grief that real joy is possible. The conventional world tries to sell us many pleasures, but it offers us little joy. That's because the conventional world is also trying to sell us many ways to numb our pain, which keeps us from that grief. So long as we are out of touch with the grief, we are unable to feel the joy. We are left only with the desperate search for pleasure and a panicked scramble to avoid pain.

This process has, for me, been slow and gradual -- there have been no epiphanies. I don't believe in epiphanies, and I don't trust people who claim to have epiphanies. I don't think the deep understanding of the world that we strive for can come in a single moment. It comes from the long and painful struggle, with the world and with ourselves. Insight doesn't magically descend upon us. We have to work for it, and that always takes time.

[end excerpt]

we're going out for dinz!

Many happy returns of the happy day to you both!

A bouquet of white cyber roses and little blue forget-me-nots in a cyber crystal vase for you (sparkling!).

By JESSE WASHINGTON - AP

It took less than a day for the arrest of Henry Louis Gates to become racial lore. When one of America's most prominent black intellectuals winds up in handcuffs, it's not just another episode of profiling — it's a signpost on the nation's bumpy road to equality.

The news was parsed and Tweeted, rued and debated. This was, after all Henry "Skip" Gates: Summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Yale. MacArthur "genius grant" recipient. Acclaimed historian, Harvard professor and PBS documentarian. One of Time magazine's "25 Most Influential Americans" in 1997. Holder of 50 honorary degrees.

If this man can be taken away by police officers from the porch of his own home, what does it say about the treatment that average blacks can expect in 2009?

Earl Graves Jr., CEO of the company that publishes Black Enterprise magazine, was once stopped by police during his train commute to work, dressed in a suit and tie.

"My case took place back in 1995, and here we are 14 years later dealing with the same madness," he said Tuesday. "Barack Obama being the president has meant absolutely nothing to white law enforcement officers. Zero. So I have zero confidence that (Gates' case) will lead to any change whatsoever."

The 58-year-old professor had returned from a trip to China last Thursday afternoon and found the front door of his Cambridge, Mass., home stuck shut. Gates entered the back door, forced open the front door with help from a car service driver, and was on the phone with the Harvard leasing company when a white police sergeant arrived.

Gates and the sergeant gave differing accounts of what happened next. But for many people, that doesn't matter.

They don't care that Gates was charged not with breaking and entering, but with disorderly conduct after repeatedly demanding the sergeant's name and badge number. It doesn't matter whether Gates was yelling, or accused Sgt. James Crowley of being racist, or that all charges were dropped Tuesday.

Con't

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

What Obama said to the Blue Dogs today! Where's the reporting!?

"this machine kills fascists"

re: Oooo!
new
Submitted by 60th Street on Wed, 07/22/2009 - 12:22am.
Rather Wins Access to Thousands of Documents in Suit Against CBS

;)

Gotta be sharp...If I don't get my 40 winks I always end up breaking shit...

good evening on the blog though...

c youse tomorrow...nite all...

http://www.hulu.com/watch/4254/saturday-night-live-give-it-on-up-to-home...

Justin Timberlake.... very funny...

He's one of the best SNL hosts I think...
Alec Baldwin and Christopher Walken and mostly Steve Martin too...are very funny on that show

...

Oooo!
Submitted by 60th Street on Wed, 07/22/2009 - 12:22am.
Rather Wins Access to Thousands of Documents in Suit Against CBS

*******

Thanks,60th..

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Kevin Spacey, too...his Star Wars audition impressions are hilarious

"this machine kills fascists"

"The most celebrated
are the rehabilitated."

later

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

Goodnight Sederville!
Pleasant Dreams.

Poser,Black singer wannabe Mouseketeer..

SNL has some good writers,sometimes..

Now,Aguilera can sing..

IMGO.. ;)

*Kevin Spacey is so good..

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Kevin Spacey is funny too...

and with that liberating change of topic....We're well on our way to mending our relationship, 60th...via comedy...same as always I guess.... ;)

Crank I feel so sad for you now...it's such a heart break to care for sick animals...but if you pretend they are your mother, (your mute mother, so you have to tune into the "vibes" you feel like you receive maybe)...you'll know what to do..just like people said to me...I guess I do not regret the times with my cats like Melly...and even Laura..they were both so obviously ill..just like people their eyes get sunken back and all...But I do not think I can make the ultimate decision regarding suffering...

I mean a couple of times I've stopped for mostly dead squirrels to help them...and all I can do is wish for a painless outcome for them either way they choose to go...it's not a thing I can carry....and it is also too heart breaking to cope....

Take care.. :)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

RE:Those are my SNL faves too, Alice..
Submitted by 60th Street on Wed, 07/22/2009 - 1:01am.
;)

Or gravity? hmmmmm.

I have three dogs now when I had only "planned" one. I had to take in the other two, though, and I'm glad for it. They are great dogs and are all well behaved and lovable and enjoy our little pack.
When I see them having fun and playing I feel really good about the decision and a sense of family.

Crank, if you can manage it, take care of the critters, your heart will thank you for it later on. I have cared for sick animals all my life, never regretted it. I love them.

the little terrier is a friend's. I was dog sitting. No more dogs on the sofa, now though! Just reupholstered it. w00t!

(they've adjusted)

"this machine kills fascists"

:)

..is freer. Crank, regardless, this is good energy & karma for you. Helpless ones are called to you, to handle as need to be.
Life is full of "choices".
Sometimes it is time to not make a choice i.e. to take no action.
:)

She's a cutie..
From my landlords son's weird ex-sort of,drug buddies..

That gives us 5 cats..(2 Calico's)
2 dogs..
1 Russian (Box-turtle ?),Turtle..
1 Macaw

They are all cool except the Macaw,which is a loud one..
What cha gonna do ? ;)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

THIS is AWESOME!

(You betcha!)

h/t Eschaton and The Mudflats

"this machine kills fascists"

That's quite a farm u have there!! I thought I had problems! ;) Y'got any pix of the whole gang?

"this machine kills fascists"

it's later--
took forever to make my last post, I never saw it make it before I left the university server.
With the blogsphere having influence, this is a good time, my paranoia tells me, for the cheney-bots to awaken and start with some mischief.

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

Yikes!

But how come this wasn't expected by the scientists?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-19514_3-10291824-239.html

ADDENDUM:

Here's another article on the impact -- photographed by an amateur....

Scroll down a bit to the large picture (a beauty)--

http://www.universetoday.com/2009/07/20/jupiter-impact-confirmed/

Too bad they didn't pledge the Constitution....

A few here have fish tanks - is it Fernando? Damn i need more CA medicinal herb.

Yesterday morning I had three fish: a big fantail, a smaller one and a wee orange run-of-the-mill goldfish we called McFish Jr. after the late great McFish from the 2006 summer fair who passed some months ago.

Late last night I noticed I only has TWO fish. Not a sign on McF Jr. not even in the filter or on the floor. Gone. Small Fan had some white what-looked-like tail rot and was listless, barely swimming.

I took a water sample to the pet shop and it was spot on ok. I asked about aggressive goldfish and the guy told me it sometimes happens. I said it was weird, there was NOTHING left at all. He said it happens (again) and gave me some MELAFIX to add to the water to revive Small Fan's possible fin rot. I poured some in this afternoon and both fans seem OK now. Maybe cannibalism isn't Small Fan's thing and made her ill and mopey? Her fins look better already and she's swimming more. I'll continue the Melafix in decreasing dosages for a week and do a 1/4 tank change-out.

Sorry for the off-topic and if that's way too much info. Next time I'll write about the wabbits, then.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I only caught a bit of this and was truly SHOCKED to even be listening to Chris Hedges on NPR Talk of the Nation
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106853619

Wow.

It sez "from one of the last BreakRoomLive shows"

Does that mean BRL is canceled? or they went on hiatus? or just didn't want to do the show anymore? or hate each other?

Did I miss something?
Or am I reading too much into that?

Just wanna get the story straight in my head. Thanks in advance!

How's The Hippy?

RE: FilthyRich on Wed, 07/22/2009 - 2:35am.
;)

Something about contract renewals or such. I missed the show so I didn't get the whole story.

Now we wait to see what's next.

Sam and Marc just get better all the time, so it's got to be GOOD when it happens!

Maybe someone will answer you who knows ALL the details....I want to hear them too.

;)

Nighttime greetings!

Dmocracy Now 20 minute news coverage video--

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/21/despite_pledge_to_cut_military_tie...

[excerpt]
Despite Pledge to Cut Military Ties to Coup Regime, US Continues to Train Honduran Soldiers at School of Americas
While the European Union cut off aid to the coup regime in Honduras, the United States continues the money flow, and while the US says it has cut military ties, the National Catholic Reporter reveals Honduran army officers are still receiving military training at the notorious School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia. [includes rush transcript]

[end excerpt]

Gargantuan Jupiter impact...
new
Submitted by nora on Wed, 07/22/2009 - 2:21am.
=
It might have been an Arthur C. Clark book I read that talked about how if an object of any size came through our atmosphere it would be so bright that it would instantly blind you if you looked at it.

And another thing I think I mentioned before. There are galaxies that are moving away from us at near the speed of light. So in other words, our galaxy could be moving at near the speed of light.

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

Top of Thread: "One of the LAST BRL"?
new
Submitted by FilthyRich on Wed, 07/22/2009 - 2:41am.
=
http://www.samsedershow.com/node/5033

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

Submitted by 60th Street on Tue, 07/21/2009 - 4:07pm.
=
By the numbers,
http://www.thehealthcareblog.com/the_health_care_blog/2009/06/by-the-num...

"
But imagine for a moment that Dick Cheney & George W. Bush had 60 votes in the Senate, a disgraced opposition, and carte blanche to do what they liked because of a real national crisis (In other words a much better political situation than they faced in 2001 & 2003).

And imagine that there was a policy that their party’s supporters overwhelmingly favored. Do you think for a moment that they’d be looking for compromise even if what they were doing was egregiously and clearly wrong in both terms of public policy and fairness? For instance, cutting tax rates on dividends to less than half what poor suckers who work for a living have to pay, even though the benefits went largely to millionaires and billionaires. Or even worse eliminating estate taxes, when the benefits went only to millionaires and billionaires.

Actually we don’t have to imagine. We know what Cheney/Bush did. They passed the legislation they wanted, and damn the rest of us. And then did it with way less political clout than Obama has—Bush didn’t even win the election after all in the way most of us understand (err…by getting more votes than the other guy).

Now imagine that there’s a policy that polls show at least 35% and (depending who you believe) perhaps up to 60% of all Americans want, and that the same polls show that a vast majority of Democrats want it. And of course Obama’s political situation is way stronger than the Cheney Administration's was.

In that situation and if they had a different political philosophy, wouldn’t the Cheney Administration just ram through single payer?
"
~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

when there was a report for the majority

“Finding Out True Love Is Blind” by Louis XIV

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

Submitted by cent on Tue, 07/21/2009 - 7:53pm.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/07/21-11

August 4 is Barack Obama's birthday-exactly 28 weeks into his Presidency. He needs to hear from his people. He needs thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of greetings streaming in all at once. Let's write-- in support, in concern, in celebration, in prayers for peace, in standing with HOPE, willing to believe in significant and radical CHANGE.

Let's all write. The postal service needs the money. We need to be counted. Buy a card or make a card; send drawings from your kids, a photo. Let's get personal. Wish him well, wish him wisdom, wish him courage-and tell him we're willing to come along. "When the people lead, the leaders will follow." He needs us-he needs feedback that is not filtered through a dozen advisors with a thousand interest groups yelling in their ears.

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

http://www.china.org.cn/china/photos/2009-07/21/content_18174840.htm

"Miss mud" with sea mud pose for photos during the "I'm crazy with mud" featival on July 17, 2009 in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province of China. People play fast skating, wrestling and push-and-pull on sea mud during the festival.

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

WOW MMR!
new
Submitted by 60th Street on Wed, 07/22/2009 - 2:04am.
That's quite a farm u have there!!
*******
One of these days I'll hook up my scanner & take some pic's..

Anyone want a Macaw cheap ? ;)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4932.shtml
[excerpt]
The Marie Antoinettes of health care
By Walter Brasch
Online Journal Contributing Writer

Jul 22, 2009, 00:16

Marie Antoinette, contrary to popular opinion, never said a solution for the starving masses of revolutionary France in the late 18th century was, “Let them eat cake.” But, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) apparently said something close to it.

At a public meeting, one of Grassley’s constituents asked him, “Why is your insurance so much cheaper than my insurance and so much better than my insurance?” He then asked, “How come I can’t have the same thing you have?” Grassley’s response was a flip, “You can. Just go work for the federal government.”

Grassley, who opposes universal health care, is happy with health care programs paid for with tax dollars and available for every member of Congress, all congressional staffers, everyone in the executive and judicial branches, and the military and their families. He doesn’t even oppose Social Security and Medicare. He just doesn’t want the masses to have the same quality of medical care that senators have.

In response, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), who has led the fight for universal health care for more than four decades, writing for the July 27 issue of Newsweek, argues that “quality care shouldn’t depend on your financial resources, or the type of job you have, or the medical condition you face. Every American should be able to get the same treatment that U.S. senators are entitled to.”

...

About six of every 10 Americans, according to a CBS News/New York Times poll in February 2009 say they want the government to provide universal health care coverage. Groups as diverse as the AFL–CIO, the AARP, and the American College of Physicians want universal health care coverage. According to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, only one-third of physicians oppose universal health care coverage.

“America’s health care system,” said Walter Cronkite in 1993, “is neither healthy, caring, nor a system.” Nothing has changed since then.

Sen. Grassley has no worries about health care coverage. Under a quasi-socialist system for all three branches of government, including the military, he gets the best medical, dental, and optometric care in the country. As for the rest, like his conservative colleagues, Sen. Grassley believes that cake is the best medicine for those without adequate coverage.

[end excerpt]

http://www.china.org.cn/living_in_china/life_in_pictures/2009-07/18/cont...

[whew, relief is finally here
: )
night]

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

housecleaning....

This is a super long story, but -- ARE THERE ANY SCREENWRITERS IN THE HOUSE? -- I think there's a movie in here!

http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/07/21/buying-the-law/

[excerpt]

The Department of Justice, Corporations, Buying the Law – Part II: Strange Bargains

By Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane

Published: July 21, 2009
Updated 18 hours ago

Bush US Attorney arranged lenient plea deal with company paying terrorists; Lawyer who helped secure plea deal? Obama’s future Attorney General

When the US Justice Department announced in March 2007 that Chiquita Brands had pleaded guilty to “one count of engaging in transactions with a specially-designated global terrorist” and would be paying a $25 million fine, observers were astonished at the lightness of the sentence.

Between 1997 and February of 2004, Chiquita made $1.7 million in payments to a right-wing paramilitary group, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), in regions where it had banana-growing operations. During that period, AUC conducted a “dirty war” against Colombia’s left-wing FARC guerrillas, marked by widespread murders of union leaders and farmers, as well as trafficking in cocaine and heroin.

“Several American multinational corporations have been accused of essentially underwriting those criminal activities – in violation of U.S. law – by providing cash, vehicles and other financial assistance as insurance against attacks on their employees and facilities in the South American nation,” the Los Angeles Times wrote in July 2007. “But only one such company – Chiquita Brands International Inc. – has been charged criminally in the United States.”
...
The US Attorney who arranged the plea agreement for Chiquita, Jeffery A. Taylor, had been sworn in just six months earlier, in September 2006, under a controversial provision of the Patriot Act which enabled him to hold that position until May of this year without ever being confirmed by the Senate.

Prior to that appointment, Taylor served in the Justice Department as a counselor to Attorney Generals John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales. In early 2006, he participated in discussions of the forthcoming attorney firings with Kyle Sampson, who was the chief coordinator of the firings and whose resignation Mar. 12, 2007 marked a major turning point in the scandal.

[end excerpt]

Is The Mail a trustworthy paper?
Four years later...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1197419/Conspiracy-fever-As-rumo...

[excerpt]

The survivors are so intent on an independent inquiry that they are now taking legal action in the High Court to try to force the Home Secretary Alan Johnson to authorise it.
Campaigner Diana Gorodi, whose sister Michelle Otto, 46, was one of those killed, explains: 'It's just very hard for us to believe four people got up in the morning, put bombs together on the basis of information from the internet and managed to throw London into chaos and to create a tragedy. It's impossible for me to believe those four individuals acted on their own.'
Rachel North, a 39-year-old strategy director who survived the King's Cross Tube bombing, adds: 'We need a public inquiry. It was the public, after all, not the politicians, who were attacked. Let the public know what risks they run and tell them why there are those living among them who seek to kill for an ideal.'
Central to the puzzle is which train the four Muslims caught from Luton to London on the morning of the bomb blasts - bearing in mind that the three separate Tube explosions at Edgware Road, Aldgate and King's Cross occurred together at exactly 8.50am, followed by the red bus an hour later near Tavistock Square.

The official reports said the bombers got on the 7.40am train from Luton which would have arrived at King's Cross in good time for them to board the Tube trains.
However, the 7.40am train never ran that morning. It was cancelled.
The Government has since corrected this information - but only after the error was raised by survivors - saying the bombers actually caught an earlier train, the 7.25am from Luton, for the 35-minute journey to King's Cross. It was due to arrive in the capital at 8am.
Yet this throws up more questions than it answers. For this train ran 23 minutes late because of problems with the overhead line which disrupted most of the service between Luton to King's Cross that morning. It arrived in London at 8.23am, say station officials.
According to the July Seventh Truth Campaign - another group calling for a public inquiry - this again places the official version of the bombers' travelling times in doubt.

[end excerpt]

“What I Got” by Sublime
http://www.playlist.com/
~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

This Sucks !
**

Obama may have to wait for health care passage

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR - AP

WASHINGTON – After more than week of tirelessly pressuring Congress to move his top domestic priority, it appears increasingly likely President Barack Obama may have to settle for a fallback strategy on health care overhaul.

Instead of votes in the House and Senate by August, the best Democrats may be able to hope for this summer is action by the full House by the end of the month and some sort of agreement on a bipartisan plan in the Senate before lawmakers head home for vacation.

Not only are Republicans honing their opposition, but some Democrats in both chambers are voicing doubts about moving such complex and costly legislation too quickly.

"No one wants to tell the speaker (Nancy Pelosi) that she's moving too fast and they damn sure don't want to tell the president," Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., a key committee chairman, told a fellow lawmaker as the two walked into a closed-door meeting Tuesday. The remark was overheard by reporters.

Obama has scheduled a prime-time news conference Wednesday, expected to focus on health care. It's turning into a major test of his leadership. One Republican senator says if the party can stop Obama on health care, it will break him.

In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, the president insisted on action by lawmakers, even as he conceded some of the criticism was valid. Referring to objections from a group of conservative Democrats in the House, Obama said, "I think, rightly, a number of these so called Blue Dog Democrats — more conservative Democrats — were concerned that not enough had been done on reducing costs."

Obama said those issues can be addressed as the legislation keeps moving forward. Congress has already spent years studying and debating the problems in the health care system, he said

Con't

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

I even have this album ... but I took his death harder than most singers/musicians killing themselves. I think after K. C.'s ...
so I am so glad you played it.
:):(

Obama may have to wait for health care passage
Submitted by MMRules on Wed, 07/22/2009 - 6:36am.
This Sucks !
**

Obama may have to wait for health care passage

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR - AP

IMO the entire premise of this proposal is wrong...

Centrists Win Backing on Medicare Cost Cuts

By GREG HITT and NAFTALI BENDAVID

WASHINGTON -- Democratic centrists said they won a tentative commitment from the White House to back a proposal to curb the growth of Medicare costs, as party leaders braced for a vote next week on health-care legislation.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said her chamber remains on track to take up the legislation. She told rank-and-file Democrats at a midday meeting Tuesday that "this is the biggest thing we will do in our lives," according to people who took part.

Ms. Pelosi is facing resistance from centrists who say health-care legislation already passed by two House committees and under consideration by a third doesn't go far enough to contain costs.

One proposal pushed both by President Barack Obama and some centrists is to give the executive branch the authority to implement cuts to Medicare spending that would be recommended by independent experts. Congress could stop the cuts, but only if it acted swiftly. Fiscal conservatives say that under the current system, which gives Congress more power, lawmakers shy away from politically tough votes to restrain Medicare costs.

After a more-than-two-hour meeting at the White House Tuesday, centrists said they secured a verbal commitment to add such a mechanism on Medicare cost-cutting to the House bill.

White House budget chief Peter Orszag was among those at the meeting, and said the mechanism was a big focus of discussion. He said adding it would alleviate the concerns of fiscally conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats. "I think it's probably the most important piece that could be added to the House legislation," he said.

Connecticut Rep. John Larson, the fourth-ranking Democrat, suggested action on the House floor is likely July 29. The legislation would create a new public health-insurance plan that would compete with private insurers, and is designed to cover tens of millions of Americans who are now uninsured.

With the vote looming, unease is high among Democrats, who just one month ago were forced to take a politically sensitive vote on legislation to combat climate change.

The seven centrist Democrats called to the White House Tuesday have emerged as key players in the health-care debate. They joined House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D., Calif.) at the meeting.

Mr. Waxman stressed an effort is under way to contain costs. "There is great concern on the cost of the legislation," not just with conservative Democrats but with "the rest of the Democrats on the committee," he said. A Waxman spokeswoman said the chairman "agreed in concept" with the Blue Dogs and the White House on the Medicare proposal, but added details are still being worked out. Mr. Waxman's committee is expected to hold off consideration of the bill until negotiations with the Blue Dogs conclude.

In the Senate, leaders of both parties on the Finance Committee continued closed-door discussions Tuesday.

In the House, more negotiations are expected over details of the proposal to restrain Medicare spending. House leaders have already signaled a willingness to scale back the proposed surtax on wealthy households that would be used to finance the legislation, a nod to freshmen Democrats worried about higher taxes. Additional concessions are likely, as party leaders move to address the range of concerns roiling the Democratic caucus.

"We will act and overcome our differences," Rep. Larson said. "We can work through this, and we are committed to doing that."

As Democrats wrestled among themselves, more than 130 House Republicans went to the floor to voice concerns about the majority party's economic and health agenda, raising concerns that middle-class families and small businesses could be hurt.

WSJ

This is a mistake and will end badly.

"Mr. President, a Mr. Mephistopheles for you on line one..."

What about all these socialized things we have?

I am in the wind...

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/158041.php

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Thursday said food prices remain high in many developing countries because of reduced harvests, civil conflict and other factors, AP/Google.com reports (7/16).

"Despite a drop in international food prices and good cereal harvests overall," current prices in several countries exceed 2008 highs or are at record levels, according to the "Crop Prospects and Food Situation" report, the U.N. News Centre reports. In 27 sub-Saharan African countries, FAO found between 80 and 90 percent of all cereal prices "remain over 25 percent higher than before the food price crisis two years ago," writes the U.N. News Centre (7/16).

Reuters reports: "World cereals output was expected to fall 3.4 percent to 2.209 billion tonnes in 2009… cutting [FAO's] previous forecast by 10 million tonnes" (Kovalyova, 7/16).

Despite the drop from 2008, which "saw the largest harvest ever, the report said that the outlook for world cereal supply and demand is satisfactory," the PTI/Hindu reports (7/17).

According to the report, prices of the grain sorghum in Sudan "were three times higher in June than they were two years ago" and "maize prices doubled" in Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia, "while in Southern Africa, they have dropped recently due to a bumper harvest but remain above pre-2007 levels," the U.N. News Centre writes.

In addition to reduced harvests and internal conflicts, the FAO listed higher or delayed imports, strong demand in neighboring countries, devalued national currencies and higher transport costs as some of the factors contributing to the continued high price of food in developing countries. "The high food price situation continues to give rise to concern for the food security of vulnerable populations in both urban and rural areas, as these groups spend a large share of their incomes on food," the FAO report said (7/16).

According to an FAO release, "Despite a positive outlook for global cereal supplies, 30 countries around the world are in crisis and require assistance as a result of natural disasters, conflict or insecurity, and economic problems." A summit that will address world food security is scheduled to take place in Rome, Italy, November 16-18 (7/16).

just to let you know, she just had a lumpectomy for breast cancer and is about to undergo chemo...please keep her in your kind thoughts...

would miss in the wee hours. She would give calls out to the blog, but not many answered... I think we weird hour-folks just figured no one was there. Blessings to her.
I have one, soon to be another plus, accounts on Facebook. :D
I barely have time for the myspace & blogspots, as is.

I didn't know..
Poor Meg..
Tell her to hang in there & get well as soon as posible,from me.. :)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

there is power from prayer or positive thoughts. I am sure everyone here can do that for one of our own!.

when she first announced it on the blog but have not heard back from her. I'll send another but wanted to also wish her a speedy recovery and best thoughts.

She just bought a new home. I'm praying this set back won't jeopardize that.

Meg, heal fast!

That is very good news...no lymphadema to deal with....

Good stuff - Money Driven Medicine. medicine should not be a "business."

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2009/07/21/New-diabetes-Alzheimer-drug-t...

U.S. scientists say a cellular protein that might prevent nerve cell death also helps improve insulin action and lowers blood glucose levels.

Researchers at Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein College of Medicine and at the University of California-Los Angeles said their study, which focused on diabetic rodents, is the first to show a role in glucose metabolism for humanin, a small peptide that previous studies suggest might protect nerve cells from death associated with Alzheimer's and other brain diseases.

"This new role of humanin in glucose metabolism … is very intriguing since scientists have long proposed a link between type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease," said Professor Nir Barzilai, a co-senior author of the study and director of the Institute for Aging Research at Einstein.

In the study, the scientists infused humanin into the brains of diabetic rats. The researchers said the infused humanin significantly improved overall insulin sensitivity, and a single treatment with a highly-potent form of humanin significantly lowered blood-sugar levels in the diabetic rats.

"The improvement in insulin sensitivity caused by centrally administered humanin may be one of the main mechanisms through which humanin regulates cell survival," Barzilai said. "This may provide another potential mechanism by which humanin protects against Alzheimer's disease."

The research appears in the online journal PLoS One.

I would be working on a post, debating with someone about something important, and I would see Meg on blog, but when done with the post *POOF* she *Flew* away to another "flower". ;D
So I am "sorta" putting "the ye ol' candle in the 'window'", and Calling out to her.
;)

Good Morning Sederville.

It's a cloudy 68 degrees.

Blessings. ;)

The Marie Antoinettes of health care
By Walter Brasch
Online Journal Contributing Writer

Jul 22, 2009, 00:16

Marie Antoinette, contrary to popular opinion, never said a solution for the starving masses of revolutionary France in the late 18th century was, “Let them eat cake.” But, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) apparently said something close to it.

At a public meeting, one of Grassley’s constituents asked him, “Why is your insurance so much cheaper than my insurance and so much better than my insurance?” He then asked, “How come I can’t have the same thing you have?” Grassley’s response was a flip, “You can. Just go work for the federal government.”

Grassley, who opposes universal health care, is happy with health care programs paid for with tax dollars and available for every member of Congress, all congressional staffers, everyone in the executive and judicial branches, and the military and their families. He doesn’t even oppose Social Security and Medicare. He just doesn’t want the masses to have the same quality of medical care that senators have.

In response, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), who has led the fight for universal health care for more than four decades, writing for the July 27 issue of Newsweek, argues that “quality care shouldn’t depend on your financial resources, or the type of job you have, or the medical condition you face. Every American should be able to get the same treatment that U.S. senators are entitled to.”

The liberals, and most Democrats, are outraged that 46–48 million American citizens still don’t have health care coverage, and millions more have such minimal coverage that they often decline to get medical help when necessary. About 62 percent of all bankruptcies are the result of extraordinary medical costs, according to a report to be published in the August issue of The American Journal of Medicine. Of those who declared bankruptcy because of medical bills, “78 percent of them had health insurance, but many of them were bankrupted anyway because there were gaps in their coverage like co-payments and deductibles and uncovered services,” Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, the study’s senior author, told CNN. “Other people had private insurance but got so sick that they lost their job and lost their insurance,” she said.

con't
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4932.shtml

Voters in Oakland, Calif., overwhelmingly approved a tax on medical marijuana on Tuesday, The AP reported. The tax, which is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, will require the city's four cannabis dispensaries to pay $18 for every $1,000 in gross sales. The tax is expected to generate an estimated $294,000 for the city in its first year. Should the U.S. decriminalize and tax marijuana?

When people vote for more taxes it is a sign CA is waking up to the solution for it's budget problems.

There is a machine to inhale Vapors of the smoke which is not as dangerous as traditional burning of the plant. This process does not create as many secondary problems associated with regular smoking.

http://www.samsedershow.com/node/5045

toniD's Ya Think?

C.P.D. holds press conference; Deny any wrongdoing

Boston Globe

**************

Reminds me of my hometown P.D.

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

Yea, about bloody time!
;)

:)

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