Where's the Outrage?

I think it is kind of amusing that there is a large group of people who question the science of global warming (climate change secondary to man’s burning hydrocarbons). So I thought the best way to illustrate the craziness of the deniers would be to ask, how do you know oxygen exists? Almost all of us had some sort of biology and chemistry in high school. We did some sort of experiment and hopefully did not blow up the lab. I think that most of us remember the experiment that we did using a technique called electrolysis. We took water and passed an electric current through. Hydrogen went into one tube and oxygen into the other. But, how do we know that was oxygen? We’ve been told, over and over, that oxygen makes up 21% of our atmosphere. But you can’t see oxygen. You cannot taste it. (More about oxygen here.) How we know? Well, it is based on the molecular theory. Molecular theory? It’s a theory, not a proven fact.

This is the same line of questioning that the deniers are using. Yet, the same scientific methods that convinced us that oxygen exists have been used to prove climate change secondary to man’s burning of fossil fuels.

Climate change. Conservatives have taken this term and run with it. They played on the fact that most Americans know a little bit of science, but not much. Most of us remember that there were many ice ages. The earth warmed iand the ice receded. The earth cooled down and the ice proceeded over the large continents. So, every time a scientist mentions climate change, conservatives point to this natural cycle. They then ask, “how do we know that the warming trend that we’re seeing now is not part of this natural cycle?” Before I get to this answer, let me add one other thing. One of the final arguments that deniers use is that the world is so big and you and I are pretty small compared to the size of the world. How can we, as God-fearing little human beings, have an impact on this great big world of ours? This is probably the deniers’ weakest and simplest arguments. There are multiple ways to refute this argument. Let me just say that currently scientists have tested the air in California and have detected pollutants that were generated, beyond a shadow of a doubt, in China. Therefore, what happens in one part of the world can have an impact on people thousands of miles away.

How can climatologists point to some of the events that are happening now as evidence of climate change secondary to man’s burning fossil fuels? Well, thankfully, I don’t have to come up with an experiment off the top of my head. Smart people, scientists, have done this for us. There are a few places in the world that don’t change all that much. As a matter fact, they haven’t changed for thousands of years. One place would be Antarctica the other would be Greenland. In these two places, it gets extremely cold. The ice in some places is several miles thick. NASA explains it like this:

Throughout each year, layers of snow fall over the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. Each layer of snow is different in chemistry and texture, summer snow differing from winter snow. Summer brings 24 hours of sunlight to the polar regions, and the top layer of the snow changes in texture—not melting exactly, but changing enough to be different from the snow it covers. The season turns cold and dark again, and more snow falls, forming the next layers of snow. Each layer gives scientists a treasure trove of information about the climate each year. Like marine sediment cores, an ice core provides a vertical timeline of past climates stored in ice sheets and mountain glaciers.

Tags: Big Oil, Environment by ecthompson
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The Obama administration is making a new effort to protect barrier islands and other coastal areas in the Gulf of Mexico area. Mississippi and Louisiana seem to be a specific focus of this program.

(Above–A picture of Ship Island off the Mississippi coast. In the background you see Fort Massachusetts. The federal government controlled the island in the Civil war and used the island as a prison for Confederate soldiers. Black combat units were also trained on Ship Island. Here are facts about Ship Island.)

From the Associated Press article on the Obama Gulf Coast effort—

“Since the 1930s, the Mississippi River delta has been slowly falling apart and eroding due to levee construction, oil drilling hurricane damage and other factors. Louisiana has lost about 2,100 square miles of coast and loses about 25 square miles a year, according to the U.S. Geological Survey…With sea levels on the rise due to global warming, experts warn that much of south Louisiana and Mississippi are at risk of being lost for good.”

Here is the full story.

This sure is interesting. You’d think that the good folks down in Mississippi  and Louisiana might oppose federal dollars to help remedy the effects of the great scam of global warming.

Here is a recent New York Times story about how people who think evolution is not real, are now adding global warming to their list of hoaxes.

I’m out of patience with this stuff. People are free to believe what they wish. Freedom of religion is a principle our nation is founded upon. But schools and public debates are places for facts. They are not places for ideologically-driven lies.

Maybe a referendum should be held in Mississippi and Louisiana to be sure that folks in these places believe in global warming. We don’t want to be wasting taxpayer dollars.

Here is a Times of London story about the possible impact of global warming on people and animal life across the globe.

Here is more from the Associated Press story—

“Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said the report “clearly demonstrates a positive shift in direction, but must be coupled with aggressive action on the ground — turning dirt. There is no time for delay.”

You are reading this correctly—Republican Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana wants some swift federal action to help address a problem in his state.

Here is how Governor Jindal felt about federal money last year–

“Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal announced Friday that he will decline stimulus money specifically targeted at expanding state unemployment insurance coverage, becoming the first state executive to officially refuse any part of the federal government’s payout to states.”

I see.

Here is the White House press release about this federal help that the people of Mississippi and Louisiana will no doubt be glad to take.

From the release–

“Ultimately, successful implementation of the shared vision depends on access to the best available science in a form that is useful for management decisions.  The Working Group will assess current capacities and identify gaps in science so the Federal-State vision will be implemented based on the best information.”

I put the term “best available science” in bold so that nobody would miss what is being said. The Feds are coming down South to cram global warming down the throats of the people. Time for a tea party!

Is Republican Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi going to tolerate this federal intrusion?

From Think Progress, here is a portion of Mr. Barbour’s record on the environment from when he was a corporate lobbyist–

“Back at his lobbying firm in early 2001, Barbour was hired “to help apply pressure in all the right places.” He convinced President Bush to break his campaign promise to reduce global warming pollution from power plants. Barbour’s memo “Bush-Cheney Energy Policy & CO2” belittled global warming as a “radical fringe issue,” and called the regulation of carbon dioxide pollution “eco-extremism.” He urged the President Bush to avoid making decisions informed by science, which would “trump good energy policy, which the country has lacked for eight years.”

Here is the full report on Mr. Barbour’s record on the environment.

The federal government has dominion over the states. In this case, the federal government is going to provide help for Mississippi and Louisiana no matter if they like it or not.

(Below–Fort Livingston on Grand Terre Island off the coast of Louisiana. This fort, named after a political figure from New York, was built by the federal government and fell back into federal hands after the fall of New Orleans in the Civil war. Here are some facts about Grand Terre Island.)

Tags: Domestic Issues, Environment by Texas Liberal
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The great pianist and songwriter Billy Preston once sang, “nothing from nothing leaves nothing.” Although over 15 to 16 months I have seen the promise of health care reform start with single-payer and then morph into some sort of public option which, were it robust, should be able to contain health-care costs. This is kind of what the House passed. The Senate, on the other hand, is one confusing mess. Senator Max Baucus was given the keys to the city. I’m not sure what exactly he came up with. As chairman of the finance committee, he was in charge of coming up with a health care bill that was attractive to at least a couple of Republicans. Olympia Snowe and others were courted with sweeteners which seem to have eaten away at the core of health care reform. Senator Kent Conrad decided that he would introduce his own health-care legislation which was some sort of co-op. Although he sold this idea on the Sunday talk shows and pushed it hard for 6-8 weeks, thankfully (hopefully), it is died a quick death.

The public option is been tossed around like a medicine ball. In junior high school, we were asked to throw a medicine ball in order to build up muscle strength and coordination. Every other throw, the ball was dropped, kicked and then picked up and thrown again. This is exactly what has happened with the public option. What was once a robust counterweight to private health insurance has turned into something that states can opt in or opt out of, depending upon the whims of their legislature. Oh, and it seems that opposing healthcare is a great way to get on TV and increase your image/status… as in the case of Bart Stupak.

I have stated both on my radio show and on this blog that health-care reform must include something that is cost-effective, portable and increases access to healthcare. Currently, we are looking at a health-care bill that seems to do none of this. Many progressives have decided that they cannot support this bill. They want something else done. I understand the sentiment. I find this whole process extremely frustrating. Democrats seem to be completely unable to stick to their principles and stand up for the middle class. It seems like the only difference between Republicans and Democrats is that Democrats know what is right but can’t do it. Republicans have no idea what is right and won’t do it. BTW, President Barack Obama is a leader-come-lately. Look, I love this man, but I’m telling the truth. Where was he in the middle of the heat of the summer when healthcare was taking the big hits? He needed to be out of front stating that we HAD to have a robust public option. Alas, he wasn’t there.

Here’s my problem. Washington seems to be controlled by big business. Lobbyists from K St. seem to surround the Capital like locusts. If we scrapped the health-care bill and start all over, how are we going to come up with a different outcome? We’re going to have the same politicians, the same White House and the same lobbyists. As a matter of fact, the lobbyists will be better armed to combat arguments they’ve already heard. They will probably be armed with more money. I’m afraid that starting over will leave us with a bill that’s even worse than what we’re looking at now — if that is possible.

We’re spending $2.4 trillion on health care every year (we spent that much in 2008). Isn’t that enough money? Why do we need to pay any more? Everyone agrees that insurance does not add any value to healthcare. Why is Washington coddling the insurance companies? The whole reason for their existence is not to improve health care, to help doctors deliver better care or to help increase access to doctors by patients. Instead, their whole deal is to simply make money. They make money by not paying claims.

$2.4 trillion is enough money to take care of all 300 million Americans. Combine Medicare and Medicaid and SCHiP and all of the state-run programs into one program. Medicare for All! The government will set up a system to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies and medical device/product manufacturers. Premiums are paid out of our taxes in a graduated fashion. The more you make, the more you pay. Let’s extend patent protection for pharmaceutical companies by 2-5 years. Since the government is negotiating drug prices, pharmaceutical companies can recoup some of their losses through this mechanism. Doctors will be awarded for opening early and staying open late and on the weekends. This way, Americans can go to their physicians without having to take off from work. This increases access. Anyway, Medicare for All, at least for now, is a pipe dream. Right now, I’m good to try to work with my congressional representatives to try to get the best bill possible.

Billy Preston was right. Nothing from Nothing leaves nothing. The Senate is trying to sell us nothing and tell us it is something. They need to do better.

Tags: Congress, Healthcare by ecthompson
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I’m on call tonight and the beeper is seizing, so I will not have time to post anything else today.  I will say that I’ll definitely have more on healthcare. I’m not sure that I agree with the Political Animal when he gives a thumbs down to Dennis Kucinich. I think that healthcare needs to be about something. I have mentioned multiple times that I wanted a bill that will be cost effective, be portable and increase access to healthcare. I’m not sure that the current version really does any of that. I think that Keith is right:

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From Political Animal:

• The potency of Iraq’s insurgency seems to be waning: “Defying a sustained barrage of mortars and rockets in Baghdad and other cities, Iraqis went to the polls in strength on Sunday to choose a new Parliament meant to outlast the American military presence here.”
• On a related note: “Iraqi forces are on track to assume control of the country’s security and the United States is on course to draw down its troops to 50,000 by President Obama’s August deadline, U.S. officials said today.”
• Incredible bloodshed in Nigeria: “Officials and human rights groups in Nigeria said Monday that about 500 people had died in weekend ethnic violence near the central city of Jos, considerably more than what had initially been reported.”
• Vice President Biden travels to Jerusalem today, hoping to kick start Israeli and Palestinian talks. Negotiations have been on a hiatus for 14 months.
• U.S. troops begin their withdrawal from Haiti.
• A new TSA nominee: “President Obama has chosen a retired army intelligence officer, Maj. Gen. Robert A. Harding, to head the Transportation Security Agency, a job that officials call the most important unfilled position in the administration.”
• Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), still prepared to vote with right-wing Republicans to kill health care reform.
• Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) is urging the state’s public colleges and universities not to extend discrimination protections to LGBT employees.
• CNN’s Wolf Blitzer never should have aired that ridiculous “Dept of Jihad?” segment, but I was glad to see him apologize.
• Jon Chait 1, Mike Allen 0.
• Fact checking the Sunday shows.
• Can online schools simply purchase legitimacy?
• The unintentional humor of The Weekly Standard.
• If I thought the National Review’s Mark Stein had any idea what he was talking about, I might not like health care reform either.
• Sullivan: “Halperinism really is part of what’s deeply wrong about Washington.”
• Anti-gay California Republican admits that he’s gay.
• Maybe someday racists will realize that their ugly emails can and should have consequences.

Tags: Healthcare, Iraq, Mess O'Potamia (Iraq/Iran/Israel/Palestine) by ecthompson
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I don’t think that this is much of a surprise.

From TP:

In November of 2009, Sarah Palin — who is always suggesting that health care reform will lead to socialism— insisted that Canada needs to reform its health care system to “let the private sector take over.” But this past Saturday in Calgary, Canada — at “her first Canadian appearance since stepping down as governor of Alaska last summer” — Palin seemed to deviate from her fear of socialized Canadian medicine when she revealed that her family may have benefited from the Canadian system:

PALIN: We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada. And I think now, isn’t that ironic?

This isn’t the first time Palin highlighted the difficulty of obtaining affordable health care in America. During the presidential campaign, Palin discussed how she and her husband Todd had “gone though periods of our life herewith paying out-of-pocket for health coverage until Todd and I both landed a couple of good union jobs.” At the vice presidential debate, Palin recalled times in her marriage “in our past where we didn’t have health insurance and we know what other Americans are going through as they sit around the kitchen table and try to figure out how are they going to pay out-of-pocket for health care?” (more…)

Tags: Healthcare, Party Politics by ecthompson
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Bart Stupak, Democratic representative from Michigan, has been single-handedly holding up health care legislation. The question is why? This has nothing to do with integrity. It has nothing to do with standing up for his beliefs. Instead, I think this has everything to do with ego. As a representative, he has been mostly ignored by the national media. (I have no idea how well he has received in his home state of Michigan.) He has not sponsored legislation of any significance. He is on the Energy and Commerce Committee. During his eight terms in Congress, I know of no significant legislation that he is sponsored. Now, he can grab the spotlight and maybe, just maybe, it will propel him into the Governor’s mansion.

Rachel Maddow may have an idea:

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Political Animal has more:

Arguably the single biggest threat to health care reform is Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and his dozen Democratic allies, who are threatening to kill the legislation over indirect, circuitous funding of abortion.

Efforts to work with Stupak are ongoing, but it’s worth emphasizing a relevant detail: Stupak is just wrong about the underlying policy dispute. Whether he knows he’s wrong, and he’s just hoping to kill health care reform, is unclear. But the accuracy of Stupak’s claims aren’t in dispute: the facts aren’t on his side.

ABC News did a nice job fact-checking Stupak’s argument this week, and Slate’s Tim Noah (a Monthly alum) published the definitive takedown a couple of days ago, explaining that some areas of the debate are open to interpretation and debate, but this isn’t one of them: “Stupak happens to be wrong.”

Ideally, this would be enough. Democratic leaders would explain the truth to Stupak and his allies, making the case on the merits — the Senate compromise language, endorsed by center-right Dems who oppose abortion rights, already does what Stupak & Co. want, which is to prevent public funding of abortion.

Tags: Healthcare, Party Politics, Rachel Maddow Show by ecthompson
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David Rivkin and Lee Casey wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post in August of last year (David Rivkin is to conservatives as Jonathan Turley is to progressives.) These two lawyers try to answer the question, can Congress require every American to buy health insurance? They argue that the commerce clause does not affect healthcare and that Congress cannot mandate coverage. “The otherwise uninsured would be required to buy coverage, not because they were even tangentially engaged in the ‘production, distribution or consumption of commodities,’ but for no other reason than that people without health insurance exist.”

I’m not a law professor. I will never profess to be one. Stephen Schwinn is an associate professor of law at the John Marshall Law School. He runs the blog constitutional law prof blog. Here’s what he had to say –

After reflecting on the case law, I agree with the Adler/Massey/Balkin formulation for several reasons. First, I think that Professor Adler correctly asserts that in Gonzales v. Raich, the Court made clear that the Commerce Power extends to the power to regulate markets.  Justice Stevens stated, “[W]hen a general regulatory scheme bears a substantial relation to commerce, the de minimis character of individual instances arising under that statute is of no consequence.”  The opinion goes on to say, “[W]e have no difficulty concluding that Congress had a rational basis for beleiving that failure to regulate the intrastate manufacture and possession of marijuana would leave a gaping hole in the [Controlled Substances Act].  These words seem to leave little to interpretation.  In fact, in dissent, Justice O’Connor interpreted the majority’s opinion in the same manner.  Thus, the regulatory scheme argument seems logical and sound.

Second, Rivkin and Casey may be overselling the non-economic quality of the decision not to purchase health care.  While Rivkin and Casey are clearly well-versed in the relevant cases, it appears that some critical portions of those cases are omitted from their reasoning.  For instance, Lopez and Morrison do stand for the proposition that the Congress should use its Commerce Clause power primarily to regulate economic activity.  However, the authors mention, but seem to discount, the breadth of the definition of “economic” provided in the Gonzales case.  In her dissent, Justice O’Connor stated, “The Court’s definition of economic activity is breathtaking.  It defines as economic any activity involving the production, distrubution, and consumption of commodities . . . [T]he Court’s definition of economic activity for purposes of Commerce Clause jurisprudence threatens to sweep all of productive human activity into federal reach.” Thus, after Gonzales, we still have a Commerce Clause jurisprudence that favors economic activity.   However, as pointed out by Justice O’Connor’s dissent, the definition of economic is now so broad that the number of activities coming within its ambit has been increased, rather than decreased.  Since health insurance is certainly a commodity, it stands to reason under our new, broader difinition, that Congress can regulate the “production, distribution, and consumption” of said commodity, even where a person may not wish to become a consumer.  In other words, if Congress can regulate the purchasing of goods, it should be able to regulate their non-purchase, as Professor Balkin suggests.  To suggest otherwise would not only invite a sort of tortured logic, but would overlook the spirit of cases such as Wickard, a spirit which was soundly reaffirmed by the Gonzales majority.  Thus, I believe an argument can be made that even the non-purchase is an economic act able to be regulated by Congress.

Finally, it is worth noting that the Court’s decision in Morrison is broader that Rivkin and Casey’s analysis admits.  Though the Morrison court was careful to state that gender violence was not an economic activity, Chief Justice Rehnquist went on to state, “. . . we need not adopt a categorical rule against aggregating the affects of any non-economic activity . . .”  Here, the Court left an opening, realizing that a fact pattern could occur which might allow for the aggregation of non-economic activity.  Assuming (contrary to my prior paragraph) that a refusal to purchase health care is a non-economic decision and the regulatory argument does not work, the game might not be over.  An individual person’s decision not to purchase healthcare might not be regulable on its own.  But in the aggregate, that person’s choice would obviously affect the interstate healthcare market.   Due to the strong, strong connection between the refusal to purchase health care and interstate commerce (something sorely lacking in both Lopez and Morrison), if there were a case for arguing for non-economic aggregation, this would seem to be a perfect test-case.

For those who are still not convinced Jack Balkin debated David Rivkin and Lee Casey. The two-part debate can be found here.

The Tenthers believe that states should have to the right to tell the federal government to stick healthcare where the sun don’t shine.  Again from Professor Schwinn -

If Congress has authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate, these state measure run up against the Supremacy Clause: They are almost surely unconstitutional, as conflicting directly with the federal requirement.

But advocates of the measures nevertheless claim that they interfere with “state sovereignty.”  As one advocate in the last line of this morning’s story said, “No Supreme Court has ever been more sympathetic to state sovereignty than the current Court.”

Whether that’s right or not, it almost surely would not affect the Supremacy Clause analysis (unless the Court were willing to undo well settled Supremacy Clause principles).  So what does it mean?

One possible answer: A mandate’s interference with “state sovereignty” means that Congress lacks authority under the Commerce Clause and Necessary and Proper Clause to enact a mandate in the first place.  This interpretation might draw support from U.S. v. Lopez (holding that Congress lacked authority under the Commerce Clause to enact the Gun Free School Zone Act) and U.S. v. Morrison (holding that Congress lacked authority under the Commerce Clause to enact the civil damages provision of the Violence Against Women Act).  The majority in both of those cases referred to the slippery slope that might result if Congress had authority to enact those laws: “Congress could regulate any activity that it found was related to the economic productivity of individual citizens . . . .  Under the[se] theories . . . it is difficult to perceive any limitation on federal power, even in areas such as criminal law enforcement or education where States historically have been sovereign.”  But neither case turned on this slippery slope, and the interference with traditionally state regulated activities alone is surely not enough to render congressional action unconstitutional.  See Gonzales v. Raich (upholding a federal drug possession law).

I must add the 1st and 5th amendment challenges that conservatives have mentioned from time to time.  Professor Mark Hall has addressed these and other challenges in a 26 page brief. Here’s what Professor Hall has to say about the 1st and 5th amendment challenges -

Challenges under the First and Fifth Amendments relating to individual rights may arise, but are unlikely to succeed. The federal government should include an exemption on religious grounds to a health insurance mandate as an added measure of protection from legal challenges based on religious freedom. In the alternative, the federal government can simply exempt a federal insurance mandate from existing federal legislation protecting religious freedom.

Finally, it really doesn’t matter what law I site. To those who want to kill healthcare at any costs, I’m sure they will never be convinced by any rational argument. They simply want to hear that they are right. Unfortunately, in this case, it doesn’t look they are even close to being right.

Tags: Healthcare, Legal by ecthompson
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• I was on call Wednesday night and unfortunately had meetings and a dentist appointment most of Thursday. My friends will tell you that I will commonly say, “Sleep is for wimps.” Well, right now I’m feeling pretty wimpy.
• Blogging stuff – I’m going to change my comment section. I have tried to work with the folks at Echo because I like the functionality of their product. Unfortunately, the product comes with no customer service. I have been unable to get my comments to synchronize for more than three weeks. Therefore, I will probably be dumping their product in the morning. There may be some transition but it shouldn’t take long. Thank you for your patience.
• Every now and then, I find out things that I already knew, like snowboarding is dangerous. There are several people in the hospital right now suffering from multiple different ailments because of snowboarding. A slick board, snow and no breaks — bad combination.
• One of my commenters was trying to point out the unconstitutionality of health care reform. There has been a move among conservative bloggers to point out that there is no healthcare provision in the Constitution (concrete thinkers). One of the leading conservative lawyers penned an op-ed in the Washington Post supporting this half-baked idea. Fortunately, healthcare reform is constitutional. The Senate passed a resolution supporting its constitutionality. Legal scholars have been focusing on the commerce clause in the Constitution as the basis for its legality. I’ll have a more thorough discussion on this tomorrow when my brain is working better.
• NFL free agency becomes a free-for-all just after midnight. Who are the top free agents? Julius Peppers is #1 in my book. If a team can get Peppers to play for 16 games, wow!!
• Many of the senators who voted against extending unemployment benefits come from states where unemployment is the worst.
• There appears to be a lawless vigilante group in Texas which is targeting gays. It would be nice to see them stopped.

More from Political Animal:

• Iraq: “Iraq opened its polls early on Thursday for hundreds of thousands of soldiers and police officers responsible for protecting the country’s electorate, and they came under assault themselves. In all, three attacks in Baghdad, two in Mosul and another in Diyala struck near polling stations where Iraqi forces mustered to vote, a potentially ominous foreshadowing of the violence extremists have vowed to carry out in an effort to mar Sunday’s pivotal election of a new parliament.”
• Jobs bill: “Democrats’ jobs agenda is moving again after stalling briefly, as the House passed one measure designed to boost employment Thursday and the Senate pressed forward on another. The House voted Thursday afternoon, 217-201, to approve a $15 billion jobs measure whose centerpiece is a Social Security tax break for companies hiring new employees. Six Republicans joined the vast majority of Democrats to approve the bill.”
• Still not good, but slightly better: “Claims for U.S. jobless benefits dropped last week from a three-month high, pointing to an improvement in the labor market that is slow to develop.”
• You know who’ll win if health care loses? Wellpoint.
• Robocalls as part of the NRCC’s “code red” program: “National Republicans are planning to unleash a huge wave of robocalls tomorrow targeting dozens of House Dems and warning their constituents that Obama and Nancy Pelosi are plotting to ‘ram’ their ‘dangerous’ health reform plans through Congress.”
• On a related note, the robocalls are filled with deceptive claims. Try to contain your surprise.

Rachel has more on the robocalls:

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• New chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee: Rep. Sander Levin (D) of Michigan.
• The House approved a resolution yesterday characterizing the Feb. 18 suicide plane attack in Austin as “terrorism.” The final vote was 408-2. Both opponents were Republicans.
• Get well soon, Michael Froomkin.
• I have to admit, I enjoy these stories immensely: “It’s no good for a family values Republican to get picked up on a DWI. But substantially worse to get picked up for a DWI after leaving a gay nightclub with an unidentified man in a state vehicle.”

Tags: Healthcare, Party Politics, Sports by ecthompson
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I really like this. Students have gotten the shaft in this country for 30 years. Reagan raised student loan fees and interest rates. The states followed and it has been open season on students ever since. Why is tuition so ridiculously expensive?

From CNN:

A movement born of $1 billion in budget cuts to California’s state university system has blossomed into a nationwide protest, as students and professors in 33 states will challenge administrators and state lawmakers to ante up.

Most of Thursday’s demonstrations will focus on cuts to state-funded colleges and universities, which supporters say drive up tuition, limit classes and make higher education unobtainable to many.

A blog called Student Activism said in a Twitter update that 122 events are slated from coast to coast — most on campuses, and some at state capitals.

Dissatisfaction, anger and an uncertain future have led professors and students to call for a day of action to defend education. (more…)

From LAT:

A day of passionate protest against education funding cuts attracted thousands of demonstrators Thursday to generally peaceful rallies, walkouts and teach-ins at universities and high schools throughout California and the nation.

From Los Angeles to New York and from San Diego to Humboldt, students, faculty and parents at many schools decried higher student fees, reduced class offerings and teacher layoffs in what organizers described as a “Day of Action for Public Education.”

“We are paying more to get less of an education. That’s why I’m out here today to protest against that,” said Cal State Long Beach art education student Jessica Naujoks, who joined an estimated 2,500 others at a campus rally there.

There were reports of some trouble in Northern California. Demonstrators blocked access to UC Santa Cruz and smashed the windshield of a car, triggering denunciations of such violence. At UC Berkeley, fire alarms were pulled in some classroom buildings, interrupting lectures. But statewide, no arrests were reported by early evening. (more…)

Tags: Domestic Issues, Education by ecthompson
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I first read about the blogger Jon Swift dying from the update below.  Jon, which wasn’t his real name, was one of the first major bloggers to answer one of my e-mails. He put my little blog on his blog roll. He engaged me in conversation. After a while, I was able to engage just about all of the major bloggers except for Jane, Huffington and Digby (they have never answered any of my e-mails). Jon was the rarest of conservatives, he was thoughtful, open, humorous and engaging. I know that the world would be a better place if there were more people like him around.

From Political Animal:

• Iraq: “Three powerful suicide bombings killed at least 33 people and wounded more than 50 Wednesday in the restive Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, authorities said. Most of those killed and wounded were Iraqi police officers charged with securing the province’s capital city ahead of elections Sunday. “
• Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) announced a “leave of absence” from his powerful post as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee today. Whether he’ll ever get his gavel back remains unclear.
• Marriage equality reaches the nation’s capital. Western civilization remains unaffected.
• Matters get slightly worse for New York Gov. David Paterson (D).
• Greece tried to alleviate creditors’ fears today with a new $6.5 billion austerity plan.
• Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) is blaming Harry Reid for Bunning’s five-day hostage standoff over unemployment benefits.
• On a related note, Kevin Drum explains, “Bunning is a moron.”
• Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, is threatening to vote with far-right Republicans to kill health care reform. This isn’t the first time Grijalva has talked like this.
• I was very sorry to hear that the blogger known as “Jon Swift” has died.
• Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is not above trying to connect his hatred for gays to his opposition to federal wage requirements.
• As part of our ongoing coverage of SUNY Binghamton’s troubling transition to Division I athletics, the school announced this week that its basketball team will not be participating in the America East tournament this year.
• Leave Grant’s picture on the $50 alone.
• And finally, Rod Blagojevich was — in all seriousness — the “guest of honor at a Northwestern University panel on ethics in politics last night.” The disgraced former governor reportedly “elicited laughs from the audience — and not necessarily intentionally.”

Tags: Civil Rights, Economy, House of Representatives, Senate by ecthompson
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We need Representatives like Anthony Weiner. He knows the facts. He understands the issues. He can articulate his thoughts. He doesn’t give any ground.  I love this guy!!

Tags: Healthcare, Media, Party Politics by ecthompson
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If you voted against extending unemployment benefits, should you be forced to present to the American people what your alternative is? If you have no alternative, shouldn’t you be fired from the Senate immediately?

From DK:

Lamar Alexander, John Barasso, Bob Bennett, Jim Bunning, Richard Burr, Tom Coburn, Bob Corker, John Cornyn, Mike Crapo, Jim DeMint, John Ensign, Mike Enzi, Judd Gregg, Orrin Hatch, Mike Johanns, Mitch McConnell, James Risch, Jeff Sessions and John Thune. Those are the guys who decided Tuesday night that Americans limping along on meager unemployment benefits apparently are, in the word chosen by Nevada Rep. Dean Heller, “hobos.” They all voted against extending those benefits.

If you’re drawing such benefits in Tennessee, Kentucky, Wyoming, Utah or Idaho, you have both of your Senators to thank for telling you to get off the dole and get a job ya lazy bum. Yep. Who would want to work instead of enjoying all that these magnificent government checks will buy? It’s such a cush life on the $275 weekly maximum you can draw from unemployment coffers if you live in Tennessee, where the jobless rate is 10.9%. If it’s you, your spouse and a couple of kids in the family, those benefits will put you $8,000 below the federal poverty line.

That is, if you were lucky enough before being laid off to work in a job covered by unemployment insurance in the first place. Only 38% of out-of-work Americans have that option. But whether you’re covered by benefits or are one of the less fortunate 62%, the above 19 members of the Party of No Way, No How have a couple of words for you: Tough shit. Like Jim Bunning riding the Senators-only elevator, they all just keep giving out-of-work Americans the finger. Those exact same 19 Senators plus 19 of their Republican colleagues also voted against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act a year ago. And most of them were on board to oppose the teensy job-creation bill that passed the Senate last month.

Tags: Economy, Senate by ecthompson
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Senator Mitch McConnell wants to deal with Democrats now? I think it is too late for that. This isn’t Charlie Brown and Lucy with the football. Where were you 6 – 8 months ago?

From C&L:

Candy Crowley actually points out the Republicans hypocrisy on the use of reconciliation and also asks McConnell a question you don’t hear too often which is whether the public might like not being thrown off of insurance rolls or having their payouts capped if the health care bill does get passed. Of course we don’t get any follow up when he doesn’t respond to those specifics and trots out the tired lines about tort reform and cuts to Medicare, by which he means Medicare Advantage.

Par for the course all he’s saying is that if the Democrats will just adopt all of Republican’s ideas for “reform” they’ll play nice and work with them. Yeah, sure you will Mitch.

And even though Crowley asks McConnell if this is all just a political calculation on his part, she doesn’t ask him why anyone should actually believe that the Republicans would work with the Democrats on anything.

It would really be nice to see these guys knocked off of their talking points and challenged on whether they’re telling the truth or not, but if it’s a Republican on any of these Sunday bobble head shows you aren’t going to see it. (more…)

Tags: Healthcare, Party Politics by ecthompson
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• The Errington Thompson Show is officially off the air here in Asheville. I may still do podcasts on a regular basis depending upon how they’re received. I would like to thank all of my supporters. I truly appreciate your time and your support over the years.
• I’m sorry, but I did not watch the Winter Olympics. I cannot get jazzed over a bunch of sports that I don’t usually watch. I can talk about football anytime, anyplace. Deion Sanders has a few words to say about Cowboys’ receiver Roy Williams.
• Several high profile running backs (Tomlinson, Westbrook) have been kicked out of their long-time establishments. I just don’t understand how you show Thomas Jones, one of the most productive backs in the league, the door. He rushed for over 1400 yds last year. Come on.
• Goldman Sachs is not interested in looking into executive pay.
• Progressives are trying to challenge Democrat Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. Her stance on the public option has been unconscionable.
• Sen. Bunning and his filibuster is kicking me in my wallet. I’m really not appreciating it. I think that this is all part of the Stop Obama agenda of the Republicans… slow down the Senate. BTW, thousands of Federal workers were laid off because of the great Senator also. What a jerk!
• Juan Cole has some GREAT advice for climate scientists.
• Black folks need to thank white folks for voting for Barack Obama – See video (very funny):

• You see, there was this Step Show. This is/was a Black affair. The black sororities and faternities would put on these shows. This started in the mid to late 70’s, I guess. Well these are fun but no big deal. It seems that now it is a big deal –  there was a Sprite sponsorship and a $100,000 to the winner. A white sorority won. Zeta Tau Alpha. OMG. You should hear the uproar. Heck the story was on NPR the other day. You know that’s big when NPR decides to cover it. Now, I haven’t seen every entry but these girls stepped up and brought it!! Sprite later awarded 2 1st prizes.
• What are the 20 most looked-up words for January? “Avatar” was one of them.

What did I miss?

Tags: Business, Healthcare, Sports by ecthompson
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• I have been working on my recent comments for over two weeks to get it to work. I think that it is finally working. Maybe.
• I’m not sure why, but in spite of all the evidence I expected a small agreement on health insurance reform. Silly me.
• I do think something was accomplished at the Summit yesterday. First, there’s no politician in America who can say that Americans are not completely and totally interested in healthcare reform. 3.9 million Americans watched the White House webcast. Secondly, Republicans never proposed any significant ideas.
• Republicans have given Democrats the green light to scrap bipartisanship. Do the Democrats have the stomach to lead?
• I was very surprised that Republican representative John Boehner was able to stay for the whole meeting. I think he missed a tanning appointment.
• It may be time for Representative Charlie Rangel to step down from his chairmanship until this investigation is complete.
• South Dakota legislators have passed a law urging public schools to teach astrological explanations for global warming. Seriously.
• Just in case you forgot the Winter Olympics are still going on. This is probably the largest collection of sports that I never really cared about.
• There’s a new Michele Bachmann comic book. It’s clearly worth a look.
• CIA asked to use mock burials. DOJ said No. Mock burials? Really?
• My favorite financial tool (dripping with sarcasm) credit default swaps may have played a role in the Greek financial crisis. The Fed is looking into the situation. My mind has now been put at ease. It is time to kill CDS!!!

Tags: Healthcare by ecthompson
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The sad thing isn’t that Jon Stewart can select from hundreds of hours of tape to find amoral Republicans talking about all of the stuff that they don’t want. He can also find hundreds of Democrats being spineless jerks.

Tags: Healthcare, The Daily Show by ecthompson
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I just spoke with McJoan about the health care debate. We took about 15-20 minutes to discuss the recent developments in this healthcare debate.

As a trauma surgeon, I’ve been following this healthcare debate extremely intensely over the last few years. I would like to briefly tell you a story about how healthcare (single-payer — government payer) is so critical. The folks on Capitol Hill are heading in the wrong direction. This is a story that can happen to almost any of us.

A 25-year-old gentleman presents to the emergency room by helicopter. He is in extremis — his blood pressure is low and he is having difficulty breathing. 30 minutes ago, he was a perfectly healthy 25-year-old. He had no medical problems. He has no pre-existing conditions. He works in construction and has no health insurance. He simply lost control of his car on the extremely slick ice. His car slid off the road and down an embankment. He now has 2 broken legs and a broken arm. He has multiple rib fractures. Now what? With appropriate care, in six months, this young man can be as good as new. He can go back and be a productive citizens of our society. He should be able to get married and have kids like every other American. In order to get from this critical scene in the emergency room to a Norman Rockwell painting, he is going to need proximally five — seven surgeries, a stay in intensive care and extensive rehabilitation. His hospital bill will be well over a quarter million dollars.

Now, to get to my point, what is going to be discussed tomorrow at the Summit that’s going to help this 25-year-old? We need real healthcare reform in order to help Americans. We need something that is going to control costs, increase access and is portable. I’m not sure the public option comes close to this yardstick. I know that Ed Schultz and others are pushing this and that’s fine. The public option is better than nothing. It help control the premium increases that we’ve seen.

It appears that Representative Stupak has raised its ugly head, again. He does not seem to be focused on the millions of Americans in need help. We are focused on getting healthcare to millions of Americans and he is concentrating on abortion. Why? Write an anti-abortion bill if that is what he is interested in. This is not an abortion bill. It just isn’t.

I think the best that we can hope for out of the Summit is that the Republicans reveal themselves to the American people. I am hoping that the American people see that they are nothing but surrogates of big business. I hope the American people see that they have no ideas on how to seriously curb the rising costs of healthcare. That’s my hope. Maybe, I’m hoping too much.

 

 The Errington Thompson Show - Pre-HealthCare Summit Report [19:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Healthcare, Obama administration by ecthompson
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• The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has created between one and 2.07 million jobs. Sweet!
• It’s been several days, but I’m not sure I understand the Department of Justice’s conclusions in the Anthrax Report. The only suspect happens to have committed suicide. I just don’t know.
• Vice President Cheney remains in the hospital. I wish him well. I’m hoping that he can get out of the hospital and explain why he was so wrong about this report.
• Some people make a big deal out of Canadian Premier Danny Williams’s decision to come the United States to get his heart surgery. This is in spite of the evidence that there is no difference in outcome between the United States and Canada in cardiac surgery. There are at least 50 centers in the United States that perform the operation that he needed. Yet he went to Miami. Miami isn’t known as the best cardiac center in the United States. I don’t even think it’s in the top 10. Maybe, just maybe, he wanted his pillows fluffed and a sweet atmosphere for recovery. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that — if you can afford it.

From Political Animal:

• Rough day for Toyota on Capitol Hill: “The president of Toyota’s U.S. operations acknowledged to skeptical lawmakers on Tuesday that the company’s recalls of millions of its cars may “not totally” solve the problem of sudden and dangerous acceleration.” (Ed. It seems to me that Toyota has learned from the Americans how to cut corners. See the Ford Pinto.)
• White House officially calls for health insurers to lose their anti-trust exemption.
• Dick Cheney apparently suffered his fifth heart attack yesterday, but is expected to be discharged from the hospital within a couple of days.
• Good to see House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) condemn Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) for his tacit support for last week’s suicide bomber in Austin.
• In light of Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) bizarre remarks about having been misled about TARP policy in 2008, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) called the conservative senator’s comments “pathetically untrue” and “cowardly.” Harsh, to be sure, but true.
• California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) is unimpressed with his party’s talking points on health care policy.
• This may not turn out well: “GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham confirmed Monday he is working with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to break the logjam on closing the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and bringing the prisoners to trial.”

Tags: Healthcare, Military, Terrorism, Torture by ecthompson
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I was reading the Political Animal today. In my opinion, he is one of the best progressive bloggers. In the middle of one of his posts was it… the healthcare debate in a nutshell.

From Political Animal:

Matt Yglesias responds by noting one of my favorite anecdotes from the entire debate over health care reform. From 10 months ago:

[R]ight there in the Cabinet Room, the President put a proposal on the table, according to two people who were present. Obama said he was willing to curb malpractice awards, a move long sought by the Republicans and certain to bring strong opposition from the trial lawyers who fund the Democratic Party.

What, he wanted to know, did the Republicans have to offer in return? Nothing, it turned out. Republicans were unprepared to make any concessions, if they had any to make.

This is the problem. The Republicans are happy to call Obama and the Dems names – socialist, fascist, etc but they have NO solutions to any problem facing the American people.

Tags: Healthcare by ecthompson
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I hope that everybody is doing well tonight.

• As a NFL Fan, I must start out with LaDainian Tomlinson’s release from the Chargers. I’m not surprised. He isn’t the same back that he was just three years ago, but damn.

 

 Chargers let LT go: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

• Former Vice President Dick Cheney is back in the hospital with chest pain.  Former Presidential contender and Senate minority leader Bob Dole is also in the hospital. I wish both a speed recovery.

From Political Animal:

• Afghanistan: “An airstrike launched Sunday by United States Special Forces helicopters against what international troops believed to be a group of insurgents ended up killing as many as 27 civilians in the worst such case since at least September, Afghan officials said Monday.”
• Senate vote on jobs bill still set for later today, though whether Republicans will allow senators to vote on the stripped-down bill remains unclear.
• For those keeping score, there are now 21 Democratic senators who support using reconciliation to vote on a public option.
• New consumer protections on credit cards go into effect today.
• I can only hope that Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) does not support terrorist acts against the government of the United States.
• Oklahoma’s outrageous anti-abortion law has been deemed unconstitutional. Good.
• The “Volcker rule” picks up endorsements from five former Treasury secretaries.
• Powerful piece from Adam Serwer: “Whereas al-Zawahiri and bin Laden turned to al-Sharif for a method to circumvent the plain language of the Koran, Bush and Cheney went to Yoo and Jay Bybee to circumvent the plain language of the law.”
• Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) seems to be getting more and more confused.
• Clarence Thomas hasn’t said a word on the court in four years.
• Fox News hatchet-man Griff Jenkins loves being the ambusher, not the ambushee.
• Alexander Haig dies at age 85.
• Leonard Pitts Jr.: “To listen to talk radio, to watch TV pundits, to read a newspaper’s online message board, is to realize that increasingly, we are a people estranged from critical thinking, divorced from logic, alienated from even objective truth…. [O]bjective reality does not change because you refuse to accept it. The fact that you refuse to acknowledge a wall does not change the fact that it’s a wall. And you shouldn’t have to hit it to find that out.”

Any other thoughts? Things to add?

Tags: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Bin Laden, Civil Rights, Economy, Party Politics, Sports by ecthompson
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