Category: Politics

Mob Deep

Op-Ed Columnist – The Town Hall Mob – NYTimes.com:

“That is, the driving force behind the town hall mobs is probably the same cultural and racial anxiety that’s behind the ‘birther’ movement, which denies Mr. Obama’s citizenship. Senator Dick Durbin has suggested that the birthers and the health care protesters are one and the same; we don’t know how many of the protesters are birthers, but it wouldn’t be surprising if it’s a substantial fraction.
And cynical political operators are exploiting that anxiety to further the economic interests of their backers.
Does this sound familiar? It should: it’s a strategy that has played a central role in American politics ever since Richard Nixon realized that he could advance Republican fortunes by appealing to the racial fears of working-class whites.”

(Via NY Times.)

Yeah, it’s Southern Strategy remixed. The fact that people on Medicare don’t want “government-run healthcare” exemplifies the ignorance and plain stupidity of these people.

I’m with Stupid

The 10 Dumbest Arguments Against Health-Care Reform | The American Prospect:

“This is just part of the hurricane of idiocy the administration must struggle through if it is to pass health-care reform. Don’t get me wrong – there are some very good reasons to remain optimistic about the odds of reform succeeding. On the other hand, if in our national debate you always bet that the side offering the most dim-witted, disingenuous arguments will triumph, most of the time you’ll be right.”

(Via The American Prospect.)

A friend of mine observing the current debate threw up his hands and simply said that the American people were, to put it bluntly, stupid. That made me uncomfortable, because I don’t like to think people in general are in fact, stupid. But if these arguments hold sway, it’s hard to argue against that. Fear and prejudice almost certainly produce that result.
And just so those conservatives who read this try to hide behind the tired cliché of liberal smugness, please remember the definition of stupid: “lacking in intelligence and common sense.” These “arguments” employ both deficits.

Civilized Medicine

Today I had to take my son for his 15 month well visit. All day in the car as I listened to NPR, universal healthcare was the topic. Little did I know I would get a reminder of the problems with our system up close and personal today.
At the doctor’s, my son developed a strong fever. It turns out this was due to a new ear infection. Great. His shots would have to be delayed another few weeks and we’d have to give him a course of antibiotics. All of this would be handled well by my insurance. The full course, between generic substitutions in pharmacy and our family’s insurance coverage, would run me $12. No sweat. With a $15 copay my running total so far was $27.
But there was a problem.
My wife was concerned with the wheezing she still hears in my son’s breathing at night. My doctor was as well. She prescribed a 30 day supply of Pulmicort, an asthma treatment medicine. Since there are no generic substitutes, I have to pay full boat with my plan reimbursing me for 60% of the cost. And that cost? $365!
Now I don’t know about you, but how is a person with few means supposed to shelve out that kind of money on a monthly basis to treat their child? First you have to have the cash on hand or the credit to shell out what amounts to a car payment. Second, you’d have to be able to afford the 40%, or $146, you’d be responsible for if you have insurance. What happens if you are one of the 47,000,000 people who don’t? What’s wrong with this picture?
Truly, when I think of folks defending our healthcare system, esp. with regard to the pharma companies, I find it hard not to think of the phrase “full of shit.”
UPDATE: I can’t really take credit for the title, it was from a teacher and mentor who corrected me when I mentioned that the UK’s universal healthcare system was socialized medicine. She said, “No, it’s civilized medicine.”

Going Strong on the Wrong Message | The American Prospect

Going Strong on the Wrong Message | The American Prospect:

“But what every one of the 68 percent of Americans who are not both white and male saw, once again, was the deep well of outrage at discrimination that Republicans seem only to summon when it’s a white guy who got the short end of the stick.
The fact of the matter is that a party that builds its foundation on the racial grievances of white men is doomed to defeat after defeat.”

(Via The American Prospect.)

I think the GOP leaders really showed their true colors (no pun intended) on race. It makes Steele look like a straight token and nothing more. It kills any credibility in the claim that the party is not racist. They just can’t seem to help themselves.

YouTube – President Barack Obama addresses the 2009 NAACP Convention

YouTube – President Barack Obama addresses the 2009 NAACP Convention:

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(Via YouTube.)

Does Franken Solve the Filibuster Problem? | The American Prospect

Does Franken Solve the Filibuster Problem? | The American Prospect:

“For Democrats, the 60 votes will be a curse as often as it is a blessing. While it gives them enormous flexibility to move important legislation, it also turns every Democratic senator into a kingmaker or a deal-breaker, and that is a recipe for chaos.”

(Via The American Prospect.)

We already see that now. The pork is just bluer this time around.

Subprime Thinking

Did Liberals Cause the Sub-Prime Crisis? | The American Prospect:

“It’s telling that, amid all the recent recriminations, even lenders have not fingered CRA. That’s because CRA didn’t bring about the reckless lending at the heart of the crisis. Just as sub-prime lending was exploding, CRA was losing force and relevance. And the worst offenders, the independent mortgage companies, were never subject to CRA — or any federal regulator. Law didn’t make them lend. The profit motive did.”

(Via The American Prospect.)

The White House – Blog Post – Celebrating LGBT Pride Month

The White House – Blog Post – Celebrating LGBT Pride Month:

(Via The White House.)

Keep it real, O.

Wall Street and the Third World | vanityfair.com

Wall Street and the Third World | vanityfair.com:

“The former Communist countries generally turned, after the dismal failure of their postwar system, to market capitalism, replacing Karl Marx with Milton Friedman as their god. The new religion has not served them well. Many countries may conclude not simply that unfettered capitalism, American-style, has failed but that the very concept of a market economy has failed, and is indeed unworkable under any circumstances. Old-style Communism won’t be back, but a variety of forms of excessive market intervention will return. And these will fail. The poor suffered under market fundamentalism—we had trickle-up economics, not trickle-down economics. But the poor will suffer again under these new regimes, which will not deliver growth. Without growth there cannot be sustainable poverty reduction. There has been no successful economy that has not relied heavily on markets. Poverty feeds disaffection. The inevitable downturns, hard to manage in any case, but especially so by governments brought to power on the basis of rage against American-style capitalism, will lead to more poverty. The con?sequences for global stability and American security are obvious.”

(Via Vanity Fair.)

Great and succinct critique on market fundamentalism (“free markets can solve any problem”).

YouTube – John Hodgman at Radio & TV Correspondents’ Dinner

YouTube – John Hodgman at Radio & TV Correspondents’ Dinner:

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(Via YouTube.)

Funny.