Where's the Outrage?

There’s been a lot of discussion about the role of Facebook and Twitter in the Arab spring. All of the discussion is justified. Here in the United States, Facebook and Twitter are thought of to be tools that are used by the young to play and have fun. Last week, we saw two examples of how Facebook and Twitter are used. In one instance, they were a way to enhance a Super Bowl. Now you do not have to leave your house to go to a Super Bowl party. Log on and there are hundreds of thousands of people with whom you can share the experience.

On the business side, the Susan G Komen Foundation and as Planned Parenthood found out that these new tools can quickly overwhelm your story. With the help of Ari Fleischer, the Susan G Komen Foundation thought that they could cut the legs out from under Planned Parenthood. They never imagined the vicious backlash that is still reverberating today. They are scrambling to try to pick up the pieces. As I mentioned earlier, it is unclear to me whether the Foundation will survive this. Rapidly, the news spread that the Susan G Komen Foundation was defunding Planned Parenthood. Somebody, somewhere, organized the first online petition. People didn’t have to think. People didn’t have to go to a rally. All they had to do was click a button. Shortly, thousands of e-mails were sent to the Foundation. Then, tens of thousands. Soon, within hours, hundreds of thousands of e-mails were sent to the Foundation. At the same time, Planned Parenthood saw the opposite reaction. Donations of $10 and $15 and $20 began pouring into Planned Parenthood. Over a matter of days, over $3 million was raised.

There are some people, sitting in little rooms somewhere, trying to figure out how to use social media for their own gain. I’m sure there are Democratic and Republican operatives trying to figure out how to tap into these instant emotions which can turn into instant dollars.

NPR had a nice story on this yesterday. What are your thoughts on this new social media? Is it going to change America? Because of the instantaneous nature of this media, what are the pitfalls?

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The blog will be going down for a little maintenance tonight. It shouldn’t be down more than 30 minutes or so.

Looks like we are up and running this morning. Thanks for your patience.

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First of all, I am happy to announce that I’ve been included in the Jon Swift Memorial Roundup 2010. Jon Swift (not his real name) was incredibly influential early blogger. He was a conservative with liberal leanings. He wasn’t angry. He was the first major blogger to include me in his blogroll. His death was painful and shocking. I truly appreciate being included in this Roundup.

Secondly, Ezra Klein is talking my language. This is very similar to a post that I did some time ago.

Speaker John Boehner’s office tweets, “@CNN survey: 60 percent of Americans oppose unconstitutional individual mandate in ObamaCare.” The link goes to this Hill article reporting that support for the individual mandate has slipped from 44 percent to 38 percent. But if you look at the full poll (pdf), there’s more of interest. For instance, this question:

So 56 percent of voters either favor the legislation or wish it was more liberal. Only 37 percent oppose it for being too liberal. There’s some ambiguity as to what people mean when they use the world “liberal” in this context, but I’m pretty sure that it’s not anything John Boehner would find particularly congenial.

I looked at a different poll but the results were the same. Americans have wanted the government to step in and take responsibility for healthcare for more than a decade.

Tags: Blogging issues, Healthcare, Party Politics by ecthompson md
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I have had a couple of people mention problems with Disqus (my comment program). With hackers P.O.’ed over Wikileaks, I’m not sure that there is much I can do about it. I have talked to my computer gurus and they are looking into it. Thanks for everyone’s patience.

Update: I think that the comment problem is fixed.

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High speed internet is like crack cocaine. It is like your favorite shoes. All I know is they get you hooked. Then you have a laptop, a couple of desktops all hooked up to high speed internet access. You have your x-box and blue ray player also plugged in. When it doesn’t work, you are at a loss. Welcome to my world.

Now my internet is back up and nobody knows what happened or why it is back up.

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Yesterday, I read a comment from one of my frequent commenters and I jumped on my high horse. As it turns out, this was completely unnecessary. I should’ve left the horse in the barn. What I read was, “you’re a real idiot.” I read the comment a couple of times (I get most comments sent to me via e-mail. Maybe it is easier to misread email but I doubt it). Unfortunately, I misread the comment each time. What was written – “you’re a real riot.” My deepest apologies for being a moron … It’s okay if you call yourself a moron.

I’ve included the video below which are clips from the Honeymooners.

Online Video [ 0:28 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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I’m on the road. Going to give a couple of lectures on trauma.

Hopefully I’ll be able post something thoughtful this evening.

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I saw this on Twitter a couple of minutes ago.

Twitter over capacity can’t be good for Twitter. It is like AOL back in the day (mid-’90s) going down.

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There’s a famous line from the TV show M*A*S*H in which Frank Burns says something like, “I think it is okay if we are all have different opinions just as long as we think alike.” This is the conservative movement. Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen the give-and-take that makes us different from conservatives. We’ve actively argued over withdrawal versus escalation in Afghanistan. We have actively argued over the size of the stimulus and how to use the funding. Many of us wanted to help homeowners that were underwater and others thought a huge investment in infrastructure was the best use of our money. We fought over health-care reform. We agreed that we did not get an opportunity to talk honestly about single-payer, but what about the public option? Some of us wanted to actively oppose any health-care bill without a public option. Others thought that something was better than nothing.

So today, President Barack Obama nominated Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. Let the fighting begin. Discussion is healthy. We didn’t have this type of discussion over Sonia Sotomayor because she was such a perfect nominee. Solicitor General Kagan has never been a judge. We don’t know her opinions on the important progressive questions of the day — what does she feel about executive power? Does the president have the power to label an American citizen an enemy combatant and hold that person without trial indefinitely? What is her feeling on Roe versus Wade? What about illegal wiretaps? We do not have any significant record of her thoughts on these or other important matters that are going to come before the Supreme Court. Glenn Greenwald, progressive blogger, has argued against the unknown. He believes that she’s a terrible nominee because there are so many unknowns. Others have argued that Barack Obama really has not led us too far off the path. Let’s see how she answers questions in the Senate hearings and then pass judgment. Who’s right?

Personally, the former Dean of Harvard Law School doesn’t do much for me. I was looking for the President to nominate someone who is so liberal that it would shake up the Senate. I really would like somebody on the Supreme Court to balance out the craziness of Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia. I wanted to see Senator Jeff Sessions grab his heart like Fred Sanford because the Supreme Court nominee was that liberal. Of course, this is my twisted pipedream. In reality, I know that it is in Barack Obama’s DNA to compromise. He will avoid confrontation if possible. Therefore, I knew that he was going to nominate someone who is fairly middle-of-the-road. Kagan is in the middle. (I was looking toward Judge Sears or Wood.)

Let’s continue the discussion. I don’t have any more insight into Elena Kagan than anyone else. I like the discussion. I think it is healthy. I know it is healthy. It shows the diversity of our progressive movement. I continue to look forward to our discussions on financial reform and immigration reform. Damn it, this is what democracy is about. It isn’t about a few guys in the back room deciding what the talking points for the whole movement should be. It’s about throwing ideas back and forth. It is about us being open-minded enough to begin to coalesce around a single idea or concept and then push our politicians in the right direction.

Tags: Blogging issues, Obama administration, Party Politics, Supreme court by ecthompson md
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I need sleep. Will blog later.

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I’m changing my comment system, again. Echo just hasn’t worked out. I’m moving to Disqus. There may be some bumps in the road, but hopefully everything will be stable by early this afternoon. Thanks for your patience.

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As I look out over the progressive blogosphere, there are only a handful of major blogs that really inform us of what’s going on. The Daily Kos, Crooks & Liars, Talking Points Memo, the Huffington Post, FireDogLake and Think Progress are the mainstays of my progressive diet. I’m going to try to do everything that I can to keep these blogs going. I have thrown in my 2 cents. I would encourage you to do the same.

Earlier this week, we asked you to consider donating to ThinkProgress. Hundreds of you responded to our request — thank you so much for your support! If you haven’t already done so, we’d greatly appreciate any level of contribution you can make. Click here to do so. The amount we receive will determine just how ambitious to make our plans for 2010.

Watch the video:

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We discuss the current healthcare debate. This is an excellent discussion with a premier liberal blogger who has really been all over this healthcare debate.

Last week, the Democrats and specifically those who have pushed healthcare reform were on the defensive. I think that they were overwhelmed by the ferocity and viciousness of those who do not want reform. There was a lot of activity at the end of last week with the progressive Democrats in the House clearly stating that they will not support any healthcare reform bill that does not have a “strong” public option. President Barack Obama, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Secretary Kathleen Sebelius seemed to back away from the public option over the weekend.

The leadership in the Senate is either confused or completely silent. Senator Max Baucus does not seem to reflect the mainstream Democratic Party. He seems to reflect the interests of big medical business. Senator Kent Conrad, also a major player in the health care debate, has come up with this idea of healthcare co-ops. I’ve written about co-ops on this blog before. Although we do not know all the details of how a co-op would work, it doesn’t seem that co-ops would help drive down prices and truly increase competition as they been billed.

I asked Joan about a couple of broad goals of healthcare reform which would be to control costs and to cover 46 million Americans who are currently uninsured. Joan points out how these two goals are interrelated. If the 46 million Americans were to have health insurance then they could go for preventative care, decreasing emergency room visits and costs. This is critical and I appreciate Joan for making this point.

We also discussed the fact that a strong public option, really single-payer, would make business more competitive. Small business becomes more competitive both in their local markets and also abroad because they don’t have to worry about the burden of providing health care for their workers. That cost is shared by all Americans.

This is a great conversation. Really, don’t miss this interview with Joan McCarter from the Daily Kos. Enjoy!

Interview with McJoan of the Daily Kos over politics and health care [ 23:03 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Blogging issues, Healthcare, Podcasts by ecthompson md
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This is a great conference. I would encourage all progressives to attend next year.

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Netroots is a totally unique conference. This is an organized by big political players like the Democratic Party or by industry. This is organized by progressives. It is an outshoot of progressive blogs. I went last year when I was in Austin, Texas. This year it is in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it this year.

In the clip below, Digby explains how conservatives are using deficits to limit the possibilities that are available to progressives. If there is a lot of money around, progressives may do foolish things like investing in green energy, enacting universal health care and rebuilding our crumbling schools. Conservatives don’t really want to do any of those things. Those are all anti-free market. So, over the last 30 years, conservatives have run up huge deficits and George W. Bush was no exception. There was very little discussion about the deficit while we were invading Iraq. As the war dragged on into its third and fourth year, there was a little grumbling about deficits from progressives but not much from conservatives. Now we’re in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression and conservatives are howling about the deficit. Very ironic.

Digby at Netroots [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Blogging issues, Economy by ecthompson md
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4 hours worth of editing – poof! Tried to save and the D drive said, “Up yours.” Once I closed everything down, I can’t retrieve what I edited. Will have to do it all over again tomorrow.

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Last Friday, I mentioned in a fairly long post, Sarah Palin’s press conference was bizarre in many aspects. The governor of Alaska, from out of nowhere, decided that she was going to quit. She’s been a long time during her press conference trying to convince someone that quitting was not really quitting. She talked about being a fighter, being a point guard and calling audibles.

Brad Friedman, of Bradblog, has really been all over this story since it first broke last Friday. He has a number of contacts in Alaska. He was the first, to the best of our knowledge, to suggest that there may have been some sort of federal investigation prompting Gov. Palin to resign prior to the announcement of the indictments. It is clear that these allegations are somewhat nebulous but with the sudden announcement comes wild speculation.

Sarah Palin lives on the banks of Lake Lucille. The house is surprisingly beautiful. It is over 3400 ft.². Yet, neither she nor her husband really make a lot of money. When her husband stated that he built the house by himself, while he works as a fisherman and on an oil rig, if I’m not mistaken, this also raised a lot of eyebrows. It is not that it is impossible for him to build a house. Instead, I’m not sure when he would’ve had time to build a house.  This just adds more questions especially when we remember that Sarah Palin and Former Senator Ted Stevens were very close.

We must also take into account this huge sports facility that was built in Wasilla, Alaska where Sarah Palin was mayor. The sports facility cost somewhere between $13 and $15 million. This is a paltry sum of money if the facility was built in Atlanta, Chicago or Los Angeles. Instead, this was the most expensive facility built in the town of only 5000 when Sarah Palin was mayor.

Finally, Brad Friedman is known as an expert in the field of US elections. He has blogged extensively on the 2004 election and its multiple problems. I ask him a few questions about the 2008 election and what we need to do to make our elections more about the will of the people.

This is a great conversation with Brad Friedman of Brad blog.

The ET Show - What's up in Wasilla with Brad Friedman [ 11:05 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Blogging issues, Elections, Party Politics, Podcasts by ecthompson md
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I’m sorry.  Too tired to blog. Going to bed

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The Blog is back!!

For some reason in this country it is near impossible to be a female singer and be unattractive. You can be plain… that’s okay. You can be a little overwieght, but not fat (gospel seems to be the exception to this rule). Well, Susan Boyle isn’t attractive and she is chubby. It will be interesting to see if she gets a record contract and if her career will take off.

From CNN: The Scottish woman who became an Internet singing sensation after her performance on a British talent show said Friday she doesn’t want fame to change her.

Susan Boyle, 47, has said she’s still the same humble girl next door despite her knockout singing on “Britain’s Got Talent.”

She shocked and inspired the audience, judges, and Web watchers with her rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical “Les Misérables” in the first round of the show.

“I wouldn’t want to change myself too much because that would really make things a bit false,” she told CNN’s “American Morning” on Friday. “I want to receive people as the real me, a real person.” (more… )

Tags: Blogging issues, Entertainment, General by ecthompson md
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I will not try to explain what is going on with my blog because neither I nor any of my guru’s have a clue.  I can’t open my blog on IE or Foxfire.  I have tried on 3 computers here in my house and I have nothing.  Yet, I can open the blog with Safari.  You explain.  I have looked at my firewall and my router.  Now, I’m just looking for someone outside my window just messing with my head.

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