Where's the Outrage?

There was a time, back in the prehistoric ages, when the news media covered real stories. They covered stories when real children were really in danger. Baby Jessica comes to mind. She was actually stuck in a hole for several days. This brings me to today’s news media. Some family with modest notoriety built some weird “weather balloon” which somehow untethered itself and begins to fly away. Now the hook, a six-year-old boy may be in the balloon! No major outlet mentions that the information comes from a young sibling.

The news media won’t report that an Arizona congressman stood up and and criticized the healthcare policy, which hasn’t even been finalized yet, with the dumbest, most idiotic statement yet. He said, “We’re getting full on Russian gulag, Soviet style gulags healthcare.” What? A gulag? How? The media doesn’t spend time calling out the stupidity of this congressman but instead spends over an hour looking at a balloon floating throughout the sky wondering if a six-year-old boy is in it. At one point, somebody thinks something fell from the balloon… was it the boy? Somebody hand me an emesis basin!! I think I’m going to throw up.

This isn’t conservatives versus liberals or the liberal media versus the Fox Noise Channel. This is just awful. Nobody did the basic research and asked who saw the boy get in the balloon? Can the balloon fly with a 40 or 50 pound six-year-old in it? Just breathless sensationalism, that’s all America gets these days. Walter Cronkite is already turning over in his grave.

Tags: Media by ecthompson md
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It is hard to figure how Timothy Geithner, who is charged with cleaning up Wall Street, will be cleaning up anything.

From Bloomberg:

Some of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s closest aides, none of whom faced Senate confirmation, earned millions of dollars a year working for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and other Wall Street firms, according to financial disclosure forms.

The advisers include Gene Sperling, who last year took in $887,727 from Goldman Sachs and $158,000 for speeches mostly to financial companies, including the firm run by accused Ponzi scheme mastermind R. Allen Stanford. Another top aide, Lee Sachs, reported more than $3 million in salary and partnership income from Mariner Investment Group, a New York hedge fund.

As part of Geithner’s kitchen cabinet, Sperling and Sachs wield influence behind the scenes at the Treasury Department, where they help oversee the $700 billion banking rescue and craft executive pay rules and the revamp of financial regulations. Yet they haven’t faced the public scrutiny given to Senate-confirmed appointees, nor are they compelled to testify in Congress to defend or explain the Treasury’s policies. (more… )

How can you be one of the Untouchables when you surround yourself Wall Street dudes? I’m just askin’?

Tags: Economy by ecthompson md
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I’ve been supporting a single-payer plan for the last several months. I am convinced that this healthcare debate has become overly complex and confusing. The complexity has been injected into healthcare reform in order to fake out, confuse and frustrate the American people. There’s no reason why we have to have healthcare exchanges. It is just like healthcare savings accounts. Having healthcare savings accounts is simply a way for you to pay more and to assume more risk. (If you want to save money, open a savings account or invest in mutual funds or stocks or dig a hole in your backyard and stuff the money in there.)

Think about this — single-payer would pay for your basic healthcare needs and would include dental and mental health. You can choose your own doctor and your own hospital. Everyone is covered. Such a system should cost somewhere around $2.5 trillion, which is $300 billion more than we spent in 2007.

How can we afford this? We figured out how to put a man on the moon and pay for it. We figured out how to start a war of convenience and not pay for it. There are a hundred different ways we can pay for this and not burden everyone. Reverse the Bush tax cuts. We can place a tax on sodas and fast foods since they contribute so heavily to diabetes and cardiovascular disease. By taking private insurance out of the equation we save hundreds of billions of dollars. Most estimates are somewhere around $150 billion. Then, because of decreased overhead, the system becomes more efficient. (I know that Republicans keep telling us that business is more efficient, but what business is efficient at is billing the government more money and milking us.)

No matter what version of healthcare reform you believe in, we need to continue to press our congressmen. Do you have your congressmen on speed dial? Call his/hers office as often as possible. Simply state your name, where you live and that you support healthcare reform — strong public option or single-payer. They have to hear from us all the time.

Update: I got an enormous amount of love from Jack and Jill Politics. I really appreciate it.

Tags: Countdown, Healthcare by ecthompson md
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Now, this is priceless.

From TP:

Last night, Fox News host Sean Hannity hosted a panel that debated the merits of President Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize. After complaining about Obama’s goal of eliminating nuclear weapons and claiming that the Nobel is undesirable because Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat receieved it, Hannity suggested an alternative recipient for the award — former President George W. Bush:

HANNITY: [Yasser Arafat] got the Nobel peace prize. Excuse me, a terrorist got the Nobel peace prize. Some people deservedly so. You know who else deserved it? Ronald Reagan. And frankly, I would’ve given it to George Bush.

As many commentators have noted, the Nobel Prize appears to have been motivated in part by anti-Bush sentiment, which makes Hannity’s suggestion particularly absurd. After all, George W. Bush engaged in the torture of detainees, waged an unprovoked and illegal war, and brought about the largest protests in history against U.S. policies — hardly behavior that is fitting for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Tags: Obama administration, Party Politics by ecthompson md
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I guess being a persistent moron has its price.

From TPM:

Finally fed up with Orly Taitz’s repeated frivolous and conspiracy-ridden filings in a Birther lawsuit, the judge in the case has fined the crusading attorney $20,000.

Opening with a quote from Justice Cardozo on the privilege of bar membership, Judge Clay Land of the U.S. District Court in the Middle District Of Georgia goes on for some length — the order is 43 pages — explaining his reasoning:

When a lawyer files complaints and motions without a reasonable basis for believing that they are supported by existing law or a modification or extension of existing law, that lawyer abuses her privilege to practice law. When a lawyer uses the courts as a platform for a political agenda disconnected from any legitimate legal cause of action, that lawyer abuses her privilege to practice law. When a lawyer personally attacks opposing parties and disrespects the integrity of the judiciary, that lawyer abuses her privilege to practice law. When a lawyer recklessly accuses a judge of violating the Judicial Code of Conduct with no supporting evidence beyond her dissatisfaction with the judge’s rulings, that lawyer abuses her privilege to practice law. When a lawyer abuses her privilege to practice law, that lawyer ceases to advance her cause or the ends of justice.

Tags: Obama administration, Party Politics by ecthompson md
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Most Americans over the age of 20 can recall Roger Daughtry’s Daltry (lead singer for The Who) searing voice as he wailed, “Who are you?” Who Are You is also the theme music for the very popular drama CSI. As we look back over the first nine months of Barack Obama’s presidency, I think it is important for us, as Americans, to try to come to grips with who we are.

Thirty years ago, I think the answer was obvious. We were the good guys. We just elected a new president, Ronald Reagan. If we didn’t know that we were the good guys, he was more than happy to tell us. Those other guys, the Russians, they were the bad guys. We were honest, law-abiding citizens. More importantly, there was a collective America. Everyone seemed to want to share the responsibility of making America better. From the janitor pushing a broom to the CEO in an Armani suit, we were all working to make America better.

Something changed. The change probably started in the late ’60s and early ’70s, but it began to be really easily noticed in the late ’80s. We stopped working for us and began working for ourselves. This can best be seen by looking at our major corporations. Our major corporations throughout the ’60s and ’70s were good corporate citizens. It was unheard of at the time for a corporation to move its operation overseas and shut down plants here in the United States. That just wasn’t done. Corporations paid a fair wage. In return, Americans bought American products. Everyone profited.

click on image for larger version

Over the next 30 years, CEO wages skyrocketed. Corporate profits ballooned to unimaginable levels. The Dow Jones industrial averages doubled, tripled, quintupled and more in a short period of time (see chart below). The investment crowd made billions of dollars, yet wages stagnated (see chart above). Corporations moved overseas in search of cheaper labor and friendlier environmental laws. Small towns withered on the vine. Huge sections of large cities like Detroit, St. Louis and Baltimore became ghost towns. One income was not good enough to keep the family afloat. Now we needed two incomes. Even with two full-time working parents, household budgets are still strained.

click on image for larger version (From Morningstar)

After the economic collapse which started almost exactly a year ago, there is talk in Washington about new regulations. We also need to talk about who we are. How should our corporations act? Should they act in the best interest of their stockholders? Should these large corporations act in the best interests of America? Sometimes the two interests are not the same. Shouldn’t we expect corporations who hire hundreds of thousands of Americans to act in our best interest? We, as Americans, created an environment which made these corporations successful. Samantha Stevens, the beautifully seductive witch from Bewitched, did not twinkle her nose to get us into this predicament. Instead, hard-working Americans helped these corporations meet and exceed their goals. So, should we expect something in return… something more than just a job?

I expect good corporate citizenship. We all should expect good corporate citizenship. There’s a reason why General Motors, IBM, Dow Chemicals and other Fortune 500 companies did not arise in China, Mexico or Dubai. They arose here in the United States because we created an atmosphere that was friendly to business. Now we need Congress to restore some of the balance that was lost over the last 30 years. Corporations need to be taxed for sending things out of the country and having them processed and then transporting them back here for sale. These taxes need to make it prohibitively expensive to ship jobs out of the United States. Secondly, corporations are not people. Congress needs to pass a law stating that the rights of people should always usurp the rights of corporations (this would seem obvious but is, amazingly, hugely controversial in the Courts). Thirdly, Congress needs to pass health care reform that truly fixes the way healthcare is delivered in the United States. Finally, Congress needs to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. This makes it easier for people to unionize. If we can get Congress to do this once and for all, we then create jobs. We actually create better paying jobs and a better lifestyle for all of us. Only then can I answer the question of who we are. We are the same as we’ve always been, a country of the people, for the people and by the people.

Tags: Corporate Wrongs, Economy, Healthcare, Newsletter by ecthompson md
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From TP:

After months of publicly supporting health care reform, insurers are warning Congress that under the Baucus health care bill, “the cumulative increases in the cost of a typical family policy…will be approximately $20,700 more than it would be under the current system.”

The industry has issued a new report arguing that the weak personal responsibility requirement, taxes on health care providers, spending reductions in Medicare and taxes on high-value health plans will increase “the cost of coverage for both single and family policies in the individual, small group, large group, and self-funded insurance markets.”

Ezra Klein and Jonathan Cohn dispute the report’s methodology here and here, but it’s worth pointing out that industry’s argument that reform will increase insurance premiums for all Americans is simply untrue. It could also backfire. As Rep. Anthony Weinder (D-NY) explained this morning on MSNBC, “the health insurance lobby today fired the most important salvo in weeks for the public option“:

If you have the health care industry complaining that we’re going to raise costs because of these changes, it is them putting us on notice that we haven’t put enough cost containment in the bill. You know, the health care industry themselves is putting out a whole report saying that. That should be a tell to the Baucus team that you know what, maybe it’s time for them to go back and revisit the public option. In a strange way, and look, obviously they didn’t mean this, the health insurance lobby today fired the most important salvo in weeks for the public option, because they have said, as clear as day, left to their own devices, according to their own number crunchers, they’re going to raise rates 111%. [Read more →]

Tags: Corporate Wrongs, Healthcare by ecthompson md
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Transcript:

If you have the health care industry complaining that we’re going to raise costs because of these changes, it is them putting us on notice that we haven’t put enough cost containment in the bill. You know, the health care industry themselves is putting out a whole report saying that. That should be a tell to the Baucus team that you know what, maybe it’s time for them to go back and revisit the public option.

In a strange way, and look, obviously they didn’t mean this, the health insurance lobby today fired the most important salvo in weeks for the public option, because they have said, as clear as day, left to their own devices, according to their own number crunchers, they’re going to raise rates 111%. And that’s why, you know we have a petittion at CountdownToHealthCare.com where we’re telling people for the moderates in the Senate, the so-called moderates, and for the White House, we need the public option, and the health care industry is making our argument for us.

From DailyKos:

Left to their own devices, the industry raised rates 119 percent in the last decade, soo 111% in the next is right on course.

As Rep. Weiner says, adequate cost containment just isn’t in the Baucus bill, and while the last thing–the very last thing AHIP wants is a public option, they make a damned good argument for it by commissioning this report. That argument is the substantive one Weiner is making about cost containment, but also a political one. They’ve just shown that, despite all the cozy meetings early on with White House officials and the Baucus team, that they are intrinsically opposed to reform and they’ll do anything to kill it.

So now that AHIP has betrayed their true selves, maybe we can get a real push from the White House and the Senate leadership for real reform, and a robust public option.

Come on. What did we expect? If I did a study looking at the pay of 48 year old, black trauma surgeons, in North Carolina, I would find that they need more money and that hospitals (even those I don’t work at) should increase the salary of this disadvantaged 1000 fold. The insurance industry did the same thing.

Tags: Healthcare by ecthompson md
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There are several ideas in the healthcare debate that I really don’t like. This trigger option is one of those ideas. To me, it says let’s make sure that the insurance companies are really, really ripping us off before we do anything. Duh!

From Political Animal:

Generally, when supporters of health care reform express concerns over Senate Democrats, they point to Sen. Ben Nelson (D) of Nebraska. But it’s worth remembering that the other Nelson is worth keeping an eye on.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) said on MSNBC a few moments ago that he prefers a “trigger” option on health care reform — of the sort favored by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) — to the new “opt-out” compromise — which would allow states to individually opt out of a public health insurance option — that is gaining favor with some Democrats.

“I think it ought to be available in all markets, each of the states,” Nelson said. “The idea is, let the free market competition really determine what the rates are.”

Nelson said the “trigger” plan “would be more important” than the “opt-out” compromise, saying that “otherwise you could have a state (that) would say, well, the insurance companies lobbied that state and they just completely did what the insurance companies wanted and took away the public option.”

Now, Nelson’s concerns about the main drawback of the opt-out compromise are entirely fair. If you’re in, say, South Carolina, it’s likely state policymakers would remove your state from the national public plan, and South Carolina’s consumers would be at a serious disadvantage. Reform advocates can hope that South Carolinians would, in time, demand the public option that would exist in other states, but it’s far from a guarantee and would probably take quite a while.

But to argue that a trigger is preferable to the opt-out seems entirely wrong. With the latter, there would be a national public plan that gives consumers a choice. With the prior, there would be no public option at all until some arbitrary point in the future, when private insurers have failed by some arbitrary measurement.

Or put another way, with the opt-out, it’s possible that some states would refuse to let residents have a choice between competing public and private plans. With the trigger, it’s definite that everyone would be denied a choice between competing public and private plans for some indefinite period of time.

Ideally, there’d be no need for these new compromise measures. Both chambers would vote up or down on a sound, responsible reform bill that includes a popular and robust public option.

But if a compromise measure is necessary, the choice between these two should be obvious. Asked last week about the opt-out compromise, Richard Kirsch, executive director of the group Health Care For Americans Now, said, “It is clearly much better than triggers.”

Someone needs to let Bill Nelson know.

Tags: Healthcare, Party Politics by ecthompson md
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The Dallas Cowboys travel to Kansas City to play what is arguably one of the worst teams in the league. The Kansas City Chiefs have been mediocre for a season and a half. Therefore, the Kansas City Chiefs had nothing to lose. It would be hard to figure out how Wade Phillips to keep his job if the Cowboys lost. So everything was on the line for the Dallas Cowboys — including their season (without anything short of a miracle, this season is over anyway).

Two years ago, I thought that the Dallas Cowboys should’ve cut Patrick Crayton. Remember, he did all that talking after the Cowboys lost to the New England Patriots. “We will see them again.” After all that talk, the Dallas Cowboys needed Patrick Crayton to step up in the playoffs and he dropped the ball when he was wide open late in the game which could have given the Dallas Cowboys a victory over the New York Giants. Last year, I don’t think Patrick Crayton really did anything significant. In this game, he muffs a punt in the first half and gives the Chiefs something that they haven’t had all game – momentum. There is no excuse. Even if he let the ball bounce for 20 yards and the Cowboys had the ball at their own 10 that would’ve been better than a muffed punt.

When you are struggling as a team, you can’t have turnovers. When you’re struggling as a team, you can’t have penalties (13 – 90 yards). The Cowboys had both. I would like to say that the Dallas Cowboys were sleepwalking but that could describe their performance last week and the week before that and the week before that. Sooner or later, you’re not sleepwalking you’re just bad. How do you have five defenses all sides penalties in the same series? Good teams don’t have this. If you want the Dallas defense to fold, just tell them that it’s less than two minutes to go in the game and they have to hold the opposition. They can’t do it. They have failed time and time again over the last year or two.

Although I blamed Tony Romo for a lot of Dallas’s offensive problems, I really can’t do that today. Romo was adequate. Instead, the problem was terrible playcalling. I have no idea why we didn’t run the ball more than we did. I also know idea why we didn’t see more of Tashard Choice. This is a guy who’s not overly fast and he’s not a guy who will run you over, you but he seems to make plays. This is what the Dallas Cowboys need. The Dallas Cowboys need more playmakers on both sides of the ball. How are you in the red zone twice and come away with no points?

Kudos to Miles Austin. Austin had 10 catches for a club record of 250 yards. I must also point out a few people on defense — Keith Brooking, Brady James and Demarcus Ware. These guys are starting to play some awesome defense. What’s wrong with Terrence Newman? He looks terrible.

So, Miles Austin catches the game-winning touchdown and the Cowboys begin to celebrate like they won the Super Bowl. What the hell is that? Yes, I too was happy that Miles Austin helped to squeak out a victory against one of the worst teams in the NFL. At best, the Cowboys played awful in all phases of the game. The performance is something to be ashamed of and not celebrated. If the Cowboys eliminate stupid plays, penalties and turnovers then maybe, maybe they can win 10 games this season. Unfortunately, with our coaching, I really have no hope of this actually happening.

Tags: Sports by ecthompson md
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I was looking around YouTube to find a tune to post for tonight and I found this video of some woman playing guitar. As you know some videos on YouTube are relatively boring. This woman was playing a Santana tune that I was unfamiliar with. You could see her left hand but you couldn’t see her right hand. I don’t know, maybe I’m just skeptical or a curmudgeon, but I really wasn’t that impressed. So I decided to find a couple of videos of great guitar players with whom I am actually impressed. How about Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughn? Now these guys can play guitar.

Artist: Eric Clapton
Tune: Cocaine

Artist: Stevie Ray Vaughn
Tune: Pride and Joy

Tags: Music by ecthompson md
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Many of us on the Left have been somewhat disappointed and, to be honest, impatient with President Barack Obama. It seems as if we were waiting forever as every day the Bush administration tried to dismantle the Civil Rights Act and other civil liberties. We must remember that Barack Obama has surrounded himself with some very intelligent people. They are not tone deaf to the political realities that exist in Washington. It is my personal opinion that Barack Obama wanted to tackle some major agenda items before coming back to civil liberties and gay rights. It wasn’t that these things aren’t important, because of course they are. Instead, I think he wanted to avoid one of the problems the President Clinton got into, which was to start off alienating the military brass on day one.

Please watch the following video as President Obama brings the crowd to its feet.

Tags: Civil Rights by ecthompson md
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This is an outstanding show. I opened the show by talking about Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize. There is some that are angered on the right and left. Some on the right say that Barack Obama hasn’t done enough. Those on the left point to the fact that Guantánamo Bay still hasn’t been closed. Those that allowed torture to occur in the name of the United States have not been brought to justice. Both sides mentioning that Barack Obama has sent more troops to Afghanistan. I agree with all of these but President Barack Obama has also done an enormous amount to change the tone of America. He is also changed our relationship with many nations and the Muslim world. There is still a lot to do. I’m not sure if I was on the committee how would’ve voted for Barack Obama but I congratulate him and the United States for having the vision to choose him as our president.

Again I reminded my listeners that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month. I continue to encourage those that have the means to give generously.

There was some sort of attack on the Pakistani military base early Saturday morning. At the time of my show there weren’t many details. Several of the attackers and Pakistani soldiers were killed. It is critical to our national interest to have a stable and prosperous Pakistan. Former Texas Representative Charlie Wilson, the man who is credited with funding the mujahedin in Afghanistan to help topple the Russians, said we need to get out of Afghanistan now. To be honest, I’m still studying the issue and reading whatever I can on it. Words like quagmire and goals keep popping into my head.

A recent poll showed only 38% of parents were likely to vaccinate their children against the swine flu (H1N1). This sets up an extremely dangerous scenario. If 38% of children do not get vaccinated this leaves an enormous amount of children and adults vulnerable. I talk with Greg Dworkin (physician and Daily Kos contributor) about this virus and where we are. We discuss health care reform and the fact that we are closer now than ever to getting something passed in both the House and the Senate.

I also talk with Doctor Eddie Cornwell who is the chief of surgery at Howard University. Ever since Representative Alan Grayson (Democrat — Florida) mentioned a study which clearly showed that health insurance status affects your ability to survive illness, many in the media have been reporting this like it was new. Doctor Cornwell published a nice paper in the surgery literature which clearly showed that race affects outcome and insurance status. Surprisingly, insurance status was a stronger predictor of survival than race.

All of this an more! Enjoy this podcast.

The Errington Thompson Show 10-10-09 [ 54:12 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Afghanistan, Healthcare, Pakistan, Podcasts by ecthompson md
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In a stunning announcement, the Nobel Prize Committee has awarded the distinguished Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama. I’m not sure what to make of this. First of all, I’m extremely proud of Barack Obama with the direction that he has taken our country in the last nine months. No, I do not agree with every single one of his policies or actions. But, overall, I think he’s done a fantastic job with two wars and the worst economy in over 60 years.

Conservatives were cheering last week when President Obama went to the International Olympic Committee and made a plea for Chicago to become the site for the 2016 Olympics. As everyone knows, Chicago was voted out in the first round. Conservatives pointed at this as the result of Obama’s waning stardom. More insidiously, they implied that the prestige of the United States has been tarnished in some way. No one mentioned any of the obvious facts that surround the Olympic Committee’s decision. Nobody mentioned the chaos that surrounded the 1996 Olympics, which were held in Atlanta. Remember the bombing? That was a not good public relations move. Then, in 2002, Salt Lake City blew the whistle on the IOC. Salt Lake City exposed the corruption and the backroom deals that cities needed to make in order to win a lucrative bid. The members of the IOC could not have been pleased with this unwanted exposure. Finally, you can’t tell me that Barack Obama has erased eight years of bad feelings towards the United States. President Bush’s go it alone strategy has clearly angered the international community, which had to play a role in their decision. So, Barack Obama had little or no chance of bringing the Olympics to Chicago. I applaud him for going to bat for “his city.” If I were president, and Dallas, Texas was trying to bid for the Olympics, I would have to go to bat for Dallas. I grew up in Dallas. I love the place. I want to see it prosper.

So, as the day unfolds, look for conservatives to bash the Nobel Prize just as they did when Al Gore won. They will point to the Nobel Committee as a group of socialists or fascists. So, according to their mindset, a socialist has acknowledged and awarded another socialist when, in fact, the prize means much more than this. Barack Obama has taken a step towards changing how the world sees the United States. If you look at the world as a sandbox, President Bush made us look like the bully — you’re either with us or against us. President Barack Obama has faced the world and acknowledged our past mistakes. He also is acknowledged that together we can move forward and prosper. He has reached out to Europe, to the Muslim world and to our friends in Asia. I think that the world has responded positively to this fact. I think that this is a good thing, a very good thing.

Finally, Barack Obama is not the first sitting president to win a Nobel Prize. He is actually the third. Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson won the Nobel Prize and Jimmy Carter was distinguished by this great honor after he left office. Congratulations to president Barack Obama for winning the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize! Sweet!

Update:

Many people are saying that Barack Obama didn’t deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. My response is if not him then who? Here are more than 30 reasons for Obama to get the Peace Prize:

Here is a brief list of some of the reasons President Obama deserves the Nobel Peace Prize: (As a side note, it took me less than 45 minutes to compile this into a diary. It took me longer to fix my HTML errors than to find a short list of Nobel Prize-winning accomplishments by our President. I am sure I have missed MANY things.)

3/18/8 – Obama caught world-wide attention for his moving speech on race relations.

7/24/8 – Obama lays the foundation for a new era of international relations and began inspiring renewed hope in American leadership during his campaign speech in Berlin.

11/6/8 – Obama’s victory was hailed as a promise of hope for the world.

12/1/8 – Obama began plans to restore U.N. ambassador to cabinet rank.

1/22/9 – Appointed a Special Envoy for Middle East peace.

1/22/9 – Ordered the closing of Guantanamo Bay.

1/22/9 – Ordered comprehensive review of detention policies.

1/22/9 – Prohibited use of torture.

1/22/9 – Signed an executive order to close CIA secret prisons.

1/23/9 – Lifted “Global Gag Rule” on international health groups.

1/26/9 – Began to address climate change by increasing fuel standards for automobiles.

1/26/9 – Appointed Special Envoy for Climate Change.

1/27/9 – Signed Lily Ledbetter “Fair Pay” Act.

2/1/9 – Expanded healthcare for children by signing SCHIP.

2/5/9 – Again addressed energy conservation by increasing standards for appliances.

2/24/9 – Directed almost $1 billion for prevention and wellness to improve America’s health.

2/25/9 – Initiated international efforts to reduce mercury emissions worldwide.

2/27/9 – Committed to responsibly ending the war in Iraq.

4/1/9 – Agreed to negotiation of a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia.

4/1/9 – Enhanced U.S. – China relations.

4/2/9 – Led global response to the economic crisis through the G20, obtaining commitments of $1.1 trillion to safeguard the world’s most vulnerable economies.

4/4/9 – Renewed dialog with NATO and other key allies.

4/5/9 – Announced new strategy to responsibly address international nuclear proliferation.

4/13/9 – Began easing tension with Cuba through new policy stance.

4/17/9 – Secured $5 billion in aid commitments “to bolster [Pakistan's] economy and help it fight terror and Islamic radicalism.”

4/22/9 – Developed the renewable energy projects on the waters of our Outer Continental Shelf that produce electricity from wind, wave, and ocean currents.

5/8/9 – Proposed International Affairs budget that included funds to create a civilian response corps — teams of civilian experts in rule of law, policing, transitional governance, economics, engineering, and other areas critical to helping rebuild war-torn societies; Provided $40 million for a “stabilization bridge fund,” which would provide rapid response funds for the State Department to help with an international crisis situation.

6/4/9 – Gave historic address to the Muslim World in Cairo – “American is not at war with Islam.” Foreign affairs experts insist that Obama’s engagement with the Muslim world has been remarkable. “He has been able to dramatically change America’s image in that region.”

8/4/9 – Used DIPLOMACY to free two American journalists from a North Korean prison.

9/18/9 – De-escalation of nuclear tension through repurposing of missile defense prompting Russia to withdraw its missile plan.

Tags: Obama administration, Party Politics by ecthompson md
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I am a trauma surgeon, a doctor like DemFromCT, BarbinMD (Oops, thanks to DemFromCT and McJoan for pointing out the error) and many others. It’s kind of funny being a trauma surgeon, since everybody “thinks they know what you do,” but they really don’t. I tell somebody I’m a trauma surgeon and they ask, “Do you work in the emergency room?” I smile and say, “Sort of.” As a trauma surgeon, I take care of anybody and everybody who walks in the door who has had “significant” trauma. This includes everyone from victimes of car crashes and gunshot wounds to people who fall from rooftops or fall off their motorcycles. If Keith Olbermann’s father fell out of bed, had a traumatic injury and came to my hospital, one of my partners or I, myself, would take care of him.

I’m in a unique position in the medical community. I see a wide spectrum of patients, from the very rich to the extremely poor. I take care of the homeless man who was beat up because he is asking for money to buy food (or money to buy alcohol). I also take care of the investment banker who crashes his ultralight.

I’ve been arguing for universal healthcare (government payer) for more than six months. I’ve complained to anyone who will listen. I’ve talked about it extensively on my radio show, on my blog and here on the Daily Kos. I have argued with my friends, both liberals and conservatives. I’ve discussed this issue at length with doctors, lawyers, other healthcare providers, politicians and even a guy sitting next to me on the plane. I’ve talked about health care for all. I’ve talked about describing it as “Medicare for All” as Keith did tonight. I’ve talked about individual patients who would benefit from universal healthcare, about the cost savings and about the fact that small business will be freed from this burden and therefore would be better able to compete with other small businesses and also against large businesses. This would be a win-win proposition for them. Universal healthcare would help large corporations compete with international companies based in England, France or almost any other Western country.

Many conservatives talk about freedom of choice and how important freedom is. I have argued that freedom from worry is, by far, more important. Universal healthcare would allow you to choose your own doctor and your own hospital. You would not have to worry about choosing between some sort of health savings account or something with a high deductible versus something with a low deductible and no maternity coverage because, in essence, that decision is not fair. You, as an American, don’t know the statistics about how likely it is for you to develop diabetes or hypertension. What is your risk for needing long-term rehabilitation care? How much will that cost? You don’t have enough information to make the decision and shouldn’t have to make these decisions.

As I mentioned above, I see all types of patients. I’ve been amazed at how some upper-middle-class Americans have tried to roll the dice and go without health insurance. Several months ago, I saw this 40-year-old businessman who was riding his Harley Davidson through the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. He lost control of his motorcycle and crashed. He had several rib fractures and a small collapse of his lung. I recommended the chest tube (a tube inserted between the ribs and hooked up to a suction device to reinflate the lung), which is standard practice for this injury. I told him that I thought there was approximately a 20% chance that he would not require it. He told me that because he did not have insurance, he wanted to go home as soon as possible. Then he asked me if I thought it was safe for him to go home with the rib fractures and the collapsed lung and while taking pain medications. No one should have to make these decisions. In the United States of America, the richest nation on earth, this man was trying to decide whether he should go home and risk the sudden collapse of his lung and possible death versus a higher medical bill. Let’s get a good healthcare bill done, now!

Again, I would like to thank Keith Olbermann for using his personal experience as a way to truly bring home this debate.

Tags: Healthcare by ecthompson md
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There are several reasons behind incidents or episodes in which prominent liberals have stood up and refuted lots of the right wing talking points. One of the problems, as I see it, is that the right wing confuses the public and throws out so much garbage that your average person has some trouble distinguishing between reality and propaganda. The right wing has written complete books full of falsehoods. I’m not talking about books like Sean Hannity’s, Deliver Us from Evil, which is overly simplistic but his premise everyone can agree with. (Evil is bad. We should get rid of evil whenever possible. I don’t think anybody disagrees with this.) I’m talking about books like The Forgotten Man, which goes into great detail in trying to rewrite the failure of President Hoover and about the triumph (although it took a lot of trial and error) of President Franklin D. Roosevelt over the Great Depression. The book basically states that Roosevelt benefited from all of Hoover’s great ideas and implementations.

Exhibit A. — Michael Moore goes one-on-one with Sean Hannity. (more on this over at C&L) First, let me congratulate Sean Hannity for inviting Michael Moore on his show and giving Michael Moore an adequate amount of time to explain his points. As far as I can tell, there are no “gotcha” moments. Instead, Michael Moore slowly and thoughtfully makes his points. For the majority of the conversation, they’re talking about capitalism, which is the subject of Michael Moore’s new movie. To credit Hannity, he had all of the right wing talking points. Republicans pointed to Jimmy Carter’s Community Reinvestment Act, enacted back in the 1970s. (Republicans ignore the fact that the central point of this act was to stop discriminatory lending practices.) Thankfully, Michael Moore, knowing his stats, stated that the FBI has concluded that 80% of the financial collapse that we are in currently was caused by Wall Street and their fraudulent behavior. The beauty of Michael Moore mentioning this was that he set Sean Hannity up. He asked a question that no conservative could say no to — do you respect law enforcement? Hannity had to say yes. Then, he hit Sean Hannity with this statistic from the FBI. Sean Hannity had to sidestep that. Michael Moore also asked the obvious question whether if Jimmy Carter’s Community Reinvestment Act caused the collapse, then why didn’t we collapse in the late 70s and early 80s? Sean Hannity never adequately answered this question. Moore had a thoughtful and intelligent answer to each one of Sean Hannity’s talking points. This was more of a debate… less two people throwing talking points at each other and more of two people listening and trying to respond to each other. Again, I have to give Sean Hannity kudos because Bill O’Reilly would have never done this. Bill O’Reilly will turn off your mike and will shout over you.

Watch the Video:

Exhibit B. — Representative Andy Wiener (Democrat, New York) had a Lincoln/Douglas-style debate against former lieutenant governor Betsy McCaughey. This debate was less civil but nonetheless still important. This debate was on healthcare. Remember that the former lieutenant governor McCaughey got roasted on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. These two people represent the extremes of the healthcare debate. Representative Wiener really believes, as do I, in a single-payer program (government payer). Betsy McCaughey believes that the system will fix itself, that there really aren’t that many problems and that spending on healthcare is okay. If we spend more, that’s okay. Representative Wiener has his stats and doesn’t back down. (more here)

Watch the video:

I would like to just say a couple of things about where we stand in healthcare reform. The insurance companies are trying to put an enormous amount of pressure on Congress to have everyone sign up for insurance. This sounds like a great gig if you can get it. For example, if you are a musician and a government mandated that everyone had to buy your albums, when that be great? Sure, it’s not fair to other musicians, or even other industries, but it is sure great for you. This is the game that the health insurance industry is playing. They have poured millions of dollars into lobbying and it hasn’t worked to stall this process for months. On the other hand, President Obama was extremely effective in reversing course. Public opinion in many different polls have shown an increase in Americans approving a public option.

The Congressional Budget Office came out with its report on the Senate Finance Committee’s healthcare reform bill. The report, which I’m sure will be highly criticized by Republicans, comes in well under Barack Obama’s target of $900 billion. It does not add to the deficit. This is good news for those who support Max Baucus’s bill. From my standpoint, I’m disappointed that we really don’t have any bill on Capitol Hill that covers all 46 million Americans who are currently uninsured. This bill will cover 29 million of the uninsured. I’m not sure that this bill goes far enough in trying to control costs. I’m not sure that this bill goes far enough in trying to improve government-funded research that will give physicians, like me, better information on how to treat our patients.

Tags: Healthcare, Party Politics by ecthompson md
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My grandson is six years old. There are several people in his class out with the “flu.” It is very early in the year for the flu and I don’t know what kind of “flu” these kids have. All I know is that we have a nationwide problem on our hands.

Again from DemFromCT on DK:

Tags: Healthcare by ecthompson md
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DemFromCT on DK had a very nice healthcare update on Friday. I had to share it with you.

Tags: Economy, Healthcare by ecthompson md
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There’s a lot of discussion on some of the talk shows today about Saturday Night Live’s skit on Barack Obama. Fred Armisen has played Barack Obama for the last year or so. The skit focused on Barack Obama’s lack of accomplishments. I’ve embedded Saturday Night Live — above.

I guess there are several issues. First, Fred is not that good as Barack Obama. Besides the ears, I don’t think he is that funny. I don’t think he looks like him nor does he act like him. He doesn’t talk like him. Several months back, Saturday Night Live made themselves relevant again by doing funny impersonations of Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton. The mannerisms and speech patterns were very good.

Secondly, Saturday Night Live has not been consistently funny since the early 1980s. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure how they’ve stayed on the air this long. I’m sure somebody’s watching them. I’m just not sure who.

Finally, I’m trying not to be an old stick in the mud. Many liberals will laugh at caricatures of conservatives but not of other liberals. I think if something is funny, I’ll laugh at it. I simply think that this wasn’t all that funny. Barack Obama inherited a huge mess. The economy was shedding more than 600,000 jobs per month. The banks were not lending any money to anyone. Barack Obama passed a huge stimulus bill which has saved us from a second Great Depression. If this is Barack Obama’s only accomplishment in four years it would be better than the last eight years. Many liberals are unhappy with Barack Obama and his stance on torture prosecutions and closing Guantánamo Bay. I agree and feel their frustration. Yet, I feel that Guantánamo Bay will be closed by the end of the year. Policies have been implemented to prevent torture. He did get re-authorization for an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Act. He also signed into law a bill for equal pay for women which it been opposed by the Bush administration. Plus, he saved us from a second Great Depression — I know, I mentioned it twice. It was worth mentioning again and again.

Tags: Congress, Domestic Issues, Obama administration by ecthompson md
6 Comments »

I’m back. I’m fresh. I’m happy to take on all of the mess. Great show.

Just got back from Rome and Athens. It was awesome.

Thanks to Leslie from Local Edge Radio for sitting in for me. I truly appreciate it.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Mammograms, chemotherapy, research… we need more.

My guests: Heidi Sheirholz, PhD, from the Economic Policy Institute is in the house to chat about the latest jobs numbers. Igor Volsky is the healthcare policy wonk at the Wonk Room which is part of the Great ThinkProgress.org blog.

More later.

The Errington Thompson Show 10-03-09 [ 54:14 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Economy, Healthcare, Podcasts by ecthompson md
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