When Sarah Palin wrote, “the America that I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death penalty’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective of judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society,’ whether they are worthy of healthcare. Such a system is downright evil,” I got physically nauseated. The only reason that former Governor Palin said this was to derail healthcare reform and to try to elevate her own status in the conservative movement. The statement had no basis in reality. My nausea stems not from a lie but from this person, unknowingly, making my job harder. Speaking with real patients about real end-of-life issues is incredibly difficult.

The following is an example of an end of life discussion. It has been fictionalized to protect patient’s privacy. A 80-year-old man presented after a fall at home. The patient had been in declining health for some time. He has an abnormal heart rhythm and congestive heart failure. He is on blood thinners because he is at increased risk of developing clots in his heart. The patient is awake and alert on arrival. A CT scan is obtained of his brain which reveals blood between the brain and the skull — subdural hematoma. The patient is admitted to the intensive care unit for observation. Medications are given to reverse his blood thinners. The patient does well overnight in a repeat CT scan (standard practice) performed to see if anything new has shown up. The patient has a new contusion (bruise) on his temporal and frontal lobes.

The patient, who was lucid throughout the night, is now somewhat confused. He is having some problems finding his words. His son, who is an orthopedic surgeon, had been with the patient through the night. The son is now extremely concerned. He wants to know what happened. I review the CTs with him and point out that the contusion is in the area of the speech center of the brain. This should explain his difficulty finding words.The son wanted a repeat CT scan, in spite of the fact that the second scan was only completed four hours ago. I asked whether, if we find a surgical lesion (something that can be operated on), he would like me to call a neurosurgeon. I asked if he wanted his father to undergo brain surgery if it is necessary.

I think this question is more than reasonable. Thankfully, the son never had to make that decision. The repeat CT scan was the same as the second scan. Neurology was consulted. Over the next several days, the patient slowly improved and was able to be discharged to a rehabilitation center.

You know our society is in trouble when a physician has not thought about end-of-life issues concerning his 80-year-old father who has a bad heart. From a medical standpoint, I just want to do what is right for the patient, which is to follow that patient’s wishes. Yet so very few families have talked about end-of-life issues. You don’t want to be in the position of the son where you’re having to make a decision while looking at a CT scan in the middle of an ICU. Instead, you would like to be able make decisions in the privacy of your physician’s office.

I deplore any politician that makes this situation harder. Emotions are overwhelming when families are faced with these types of decisions. Exploiting end-of-life issues for political gain should get those politicians a special place in Dante’s Inferno.

From WaPo:

More than a third of the advertising tied to the presidential race has been funded by nonprofit groups that will never have to reveal their donors, suggesting that a significant portion of the 2012 elections will be wrapped in a vast cloak of secrecy.

The bulk of the secret money spent so far has come from conservative groups seeking to propel a Republican into the White House, advertising data shows. Millions of dollars in additional spending from both sides has poured into legislative races, such as the Senate contest in Massachusetts, that could help determine which party controls Congress in 2013.

The flow of funds is part of a wave of spending by outside groups that has quickly come to dominate the 2012 presidential contest, particularly by so-called “super PACs” that have few limits on their activities.

But unlike super PACs, politically minded nonprofit groups are under no obligation to disclose the corporations, unions or wealthy tycoons bankrolling their advertising, much of which is almost indistinguishable from regular political ads run by campaigns. (more…)

Many conservatives and Republicans in our nation operate under the view that the United Nations is directing a number of  public policy priorities in the United States.

(Above–Example of United Nations sponsored bike trial in the radical hotbed of Granbury, Texas.)

From the New York Times—

Across the country, activists with ties to the Tea Party are railing against all sorts of local and state efforts to control sprawl and conserve energy. They brand government action for things like expanding public transportation routes and preserving open space as part of a United Nations-led conspiracy to deny property rights and herd citizens toward cities. They are showing up at planning meetings to denounce bike lanes on public streets and smart meters on home appliances — efforts they equate to a big-government blueprint against individual rights. The protests date to 1992 when the United Nations passed a sweeping, but nonbinding, 100-plus-page resolution called Agenda 21 that was designed to encourage nations to use fewer resources and conserve open land by steering development to already dense areas. They have gained momentum in the past two years because of the emergence of the Tea Party movement, harnessing its suspicion about government power… In January, the Republican Party adopted its own resolution against what it called “the destructive and insidious nature” of Agenda 21. And Newt Gingrich took aim at it during a Republican debate in November.”

Fox News has reported on Agenda 21. Fox says that President Obama and the United Nations want to take over rural America.

Mother Jones magazine wrote about this issue last year.

From Mother Jones-—

Tea partiers see Agenda 21 behind everything from a septic tank inspection law in Florida to a plan in Maine to reduce traffic on Route 1. The issue even flared up briefly during the midterms, when Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes accused his Democratic opponent of using a bike-sharing program to convert Denver into a “United Nations Community.”

Here is the Agenda 21 website of the United Nations.  

You may think that Mitt Romney is some type of moderate or that there remain reasonable people in the  mainstream of the Republican Party.

Yet the Republican National Committee has passed a resolution opposing Agenda 21.

Where are the moderate or reasonable Republican objections to this stuff? There are no liberals or urban planners in this country working or operating under the direction of a United Nations mandate.

These people on the right are paranoid and crazy. They are telling you each day that they are paranoid and crazy.

When somebody tells you who they are–You should believe them.

By now everyone has heard about the latest jobs report. I’m going to repeat myself. It isn’t time to cheer. It is time to figure out how to get the millions of Americans who are trying to get work, back to work. We haven’t gotten there yet. There are still more than four job seekers for every job out there. We have to get this economy going. This is a start. It is a good start.

From EPI:

The labor market started off 2012 with a nice surprise. The January 2012 employment situation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed a labor market with all parts seemingly moving in a solid direction. Payroll employment growth of 243,000 was matched by a decrease in the unemployment rate from 8.5 percent to 8.3 percent, strong household employment growth, and a growing share of the population with jobs (after removing the effect of BLS’ annual population reweighting). Furthermore, December’s jobs number was revised upward by 266,000 (which included not only the routine monthly revision of earlier data, but also the annual benchmark revision, updated birth/death model adjustments, and new seasonal adjustment factors).

It’s important, though, to keep all this in context. The U.S. labor market started 2012 with fewer jobs than it had 11 years ago in January 2001—a testament to both the enormity of the current labor market crisis as well as the very weak job growth of the 2000–07 business cycle. The jobs deficit is so large that even at January’s growth rate, it would still take until 2019 to get back to full employment. We need reports this strong and stronger for the next several years to get back to a healthy labor market.

Pecos wilderness

Many, many years ago, I was out in the Pecos wilderness with several of my classmates. We found out, first-hand, what happens when you stir up a hornet’s nest. We were walking down this trail single-file. All of us were city slickers and most of us did not really appreciate being out in the woods. Therefore, we really were paying attention to our surroundings. Suddenly, one guy grabbed his leg and ran off the trail screaming in pain. A few seconds later, the guy behind him did exactly the same thing. It turned out there was some sort of hornet’s nest in the middle of the trail. The first two or three guys walked down the trail that the hornets stirred up. The middle of the group got stung. Those of us who were lagging behind saw the commotion and took a different path. In the end, everybody was fine, with the exception of a few stings. In this highly charged political atmosphere, one would figure that a major fund raising foundation would steer clear of hornet’s nests. Not the Susan G Komen Foundation for the Cure. On Tuesday, they decided, for purely political reasons, to stop funding Planned Parenthood. There was significant blowback. Today, they are in 100% damage control mode and almost  reversed their decision. This was a major announcement that did very little to guarantee future funds for Planned Parenthood.

We needed a pink gun, did we??

We live in an era in which nothing is exactly as it seems. Just a couple of years ago, the average American thought that British Petroleum really cared about the environment. They had a charm offensive which included more than five years of commercials filled with environmentally friendly talk. It only took one oil well and a completely tone deaf CEO to show America that British Petroleum was no different than any other major oil corporation. The Susan G Komen foundation had completely infiltrated the American psyche. They equaled breast cancer awareness and treatment. Even the NFL had one game where players would support the Foundation by wearing pink shoes or pink gloves or even have pink towels hanging from their waist. Personally, I have purchased golf balls, baseball caps and other merchandise which sported the Susan G Komen logo and supported breast cancer awareness and treatment. I have personally given money to people who have run in their multiple, well-publicized, “race for the cure” over the years. Now, that’s not happening. Millions of Americans have the same feeling. It will take Susan G Komen foundation years to recover from this strategic blunder.

In my opinion, the Board of Directors needs to clean house. The power structure of the Susan G Komen foundation needs to be fired. New management needs to be brought in if they are to convince the American public that they truly understand what the problem is. In my opinion, today’s announcement tells me that they know what the problem is, but that they don’t really want to fix it. Personally, it’s going be hard for me to pony up money to the Susan G Komen foundation ever again. I’ve already donated to Planned Parenthood, which I’ve never done in my life. I plan on making it a habit.

The Daily Kos has done an excellent job covering the to and fro of this debacle. Please check out their many posts here, here and here. Marcy Wheeler, fabulous blogger and personal friend, has an excellent post here. You can give to Planned Parenthood here.

Update: This is what anyone would describe as a bizarre episode in PR. This case just gets stranger. Ari Fleischer, Bush’s former press secretary, raises his ugly head. This just gets crazier and crazier. Komen has not been officially labelled a partisan, dead organization. I don’t see how the Susan G Komen foundation will be surviving this.

Here’s what I think is very sad about this whole ordeal. Women need an organizational advocate to raise huge sums of money to combat breast cancer. The advocate must be non-partisan and focus like a laser on breast cancer research and on helping women.

Update II:

I thought that this graphic would be helpful.

This attack on unions is particularly well-timed. The legislation is extremely anti-union. It goes further than Scott Walker ever thought he could. Fighting this legislation will require unions to divert their attention away from the national election and local elections. They will have to focus almost entirely on this assault on their very existence. Thus, this assault will probably deprive Democrats of much-needed money and organizational strength. I look at this as a last and desperate effort to crush progressive causes.

More from TPM:

Union members were searching for a way out of the wilderness on Wednesday in Arizona as the Republican-controlled Senate moved ahead quickly on several bills that could devastate organized labor in the state.

The measures caught many union leaders by surprise, being introduced on Monday night and passed in committee less than 48 hours later.

At issue is a sweeping series of restrictions that would, among other things, ban unions that represent workers in state, county or city governments from engaging in any type of negotiations that affect the terms of their employment. That includes teachers, prison workers and the state’s powerful police and firefighters unions. The move would take away much of the power those unions have and turn them into something more akin to trade groups.

On my Facebook that evening, I saw a number of reactions to the speech from both moderate and liberal Democrats, from Green Party supporters, from Occupy Wall Street backers and from socialists.

The Democrats all liked the speech, while some of my friends further along on the left had reactions ranging from partial approval to scorn.

This is all fine with me. While I am not President Obama’s most ardent supporter, I am on the side of all good people who want to  help move our great nation to the left.

There is no point in a rigidity that excludes people on our side of the aisle.

Here is the entirety of  chapter 76 of the Stephen Mitchell translation of the Tao Te Ching—

Men are born soft and supple;

dead, they are stiff and hard.

Plants are born tender and pliant;

dead, they are brittle and dry.

This whoever is stiff and inflexible

is a disciple of death.

Whoever is soft and yielding

is a disciple of life.

The hard and stiff will be broken.

The soft and supple will prevail.

Yet–of course–we must move in a hopeful direction and this does require at the least a measure of coordination.

The good news is that different sets of tracks can lead in the same direction. We see this in picture below of railroad tracks that I took in Houston last year.

There are multiple tracks, but they merge.

See who your friends and allies are and see the good in them. Focus on where you agree and move forward.

We can be both flexible and focused on a common goal.

Sure looks like President Obama and the stimulus package have done something.

From WSJ (may need a subscription):

Greece and its private sector creditors said Saturday they were on the verge of a deal to write off €100 billion ($132 billion) worth of the country’s debt, pending the outcome of separate talks on a new, multi-billion euro bailout for Athens.

In separate statements, Greece and the creditors both noted significant progress in the talks and said a final deal would be announced next week in tandem with the new loan program.

Effectively, the focus now shifts to a European summit in Brussels Monday where the continent’s leaders will sanctify — or not — the terms of the debt restructuring and the new loan. But complicating those discussions are concerns that Greece’s funding needs might be bigger than originally thought, while Europe appears divided over how to cover the gap.

• BankEast, Knoxville, Tennessee was closed today by the Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with U.S. Bank National Association, Cincinnati, Ohio, to assume all of the deposits of BankEast.
• Patriot Bank Minnesota, Forest Lake, Minnesota was closed today by the Minnesota Department of Commerce, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with First Resource Bank, Savage, Minnesota, to assume all of the deposits of Patriot Bank Minnesota.
• First Guaranty Bank and Trust Company of Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Florida was closed today by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with CenterState Bank of Florida, National Association, Winter Haven, Florida to assume all of the deposits of First Guaranty Bank and Trust Company of Jacksonville.
• Tennessee Commerce Bank, Franklin, Tennessee was closed today by the Tennessee Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Republic Bank & Trust Company, Louisville, Kentucky to assume all of the deposits of Tennessee Commerce Bank

Over the first several months of his campaign, my theory held up. He never really spent money on infrastructure or campaign personnel. Instead, Newt Gingrich seemed to go from city to city selling books. He had a lot of early upheaval with turnover in his extremely small campaign staff, but this did not seem to faze him. Then, somewhere in Iowa, it seemed that he began to believe the press. It seemed that he was beginning to become serious about running for president. In South Carolina, his stop seemed to be more about campaigning and less about selling books or any of his other products. Newt Gingrich was serious.

Now, Newt Gingrich was a front runner. I don’t know whether he lost his mojo or whether he did not know what to do with his front-runner status, but Newt Gingrich seemed to lose focus. He is in the middle of a knock-down, drag-out fight with Mitt Romney. He needed to sharpen his message. How is he going to improve the country? How is he a better Republican candidate then Mitt Romney? How could he turn the economy around? Can someone explain to me how a “major” Republican candidate in the middle of a tight primary can even suggest America going to the moon? He said it with a straight face. Did he just say this to please a Florida space crowd? Did he think through this lunar colony?

I think that this is yet another example of how Newt is not a serious candidate. This isn’t the 1970s, where the sky was the limit. Our economy is struggling to make jobs. Europe is on the brink of implosion as Greek debt seems to be an unsolvable problem. Yet, Newt is talking about spending billions of dollars not just to go to the moon but to build a colony. Wow. I can’t wrap my mind around how irresponsible a statement that was.

A few facts about the SOTU:

• Since the last SOTU, the economy has created 1.9 million private sector jobs. [Source]

• The top one percent take home 24 percent of the nation’s income, up from about nine percent in 1976. [Source]

• Private sector job creation under Obama in 2011 was larger than seven out of the eight years Bush was president. [Source]

• The top one percent of Americans own 40 percent of our country’s wealth, while the bottom 80 percent owns only seven percent. [Source]

• Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, 2.5 million young adults gained health insurance. [Source]

• For every one job opening, there are four people looking for work. [Source]

• Last year, China spent nine percent of its GDP on infrastructure. The U.S. spent 2.5 percent. [Source]

• 2.65 million seniors saved an average of $569 on prescriptions last year thanks to the Affordable Care Act. [Source]

• “In 2011, the United States killed Al Qaeda’s most effective propagandist, Anwar al-Awlaki; its operating chief, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman; and of course its founder, chief executive and spiritual leader, Osama bin Laden.” [Source]

• Union membership is at a 70-year low. [Source]

• Unemployment benefits have lifted 3.2 million people out of poverty. [Source]

• The United States used to have the world’s largest percentage of college graduates. We’re now #14. [Source]

• One quarter of all contributions to federal campaigns come from 0.01 percent of Americans. [Source]

• 47.8 percent of households that receive food stamps are working, because having a job is not enough to keep them out of poverty. [Source] (A friend of mine asked me about how many of our military families are on food stamps. I don’t have that answer, but usage of food stamps is clearly up in the military.)

• In the last three years, 30 major corporations spent more on lobbying than they paid in taxes. [Source]

• 50 percent of U.S. workers make less than $26,364 per year. [Source]

• More than one in 70 homes faced foreclosure last year. [Source]

• Since 1985, the federal tax rate for the 400 wealthiest Americans dropped from 29 percent to 18 percent. [Source]

We need to adopt a computer-generated nonpartisan redistricting process. (This is a very detailed map using a nonpartisan process.) In my opinion, this is a must in order to take back our democracy from special interests which includes both Democrats and Republicans.

In politics, it’s important to understand the atmosphere that you’re in. Richard Nixon famously could not understand the antiwar movement and how the country had changed significantly since the mid-’50s. Mitt Romney seems to be one of these politicians who really doesn’t understand the environment in which he is working. He and his advisors need to sit down and come up with a strategy about handling the issue of his tax returns. The question is not going to go away. It doesn’t matter how mad he gets or how he tries to blow off reporters’ questions. The issue is only going to get bigger. Hell, one of his biggest surrogates (in political stature and size) is New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Even he has called for Mitt Romney to release his tax returns. The longer he waits, the more speculation grows. “There must be something nefarious in there.” “He must be hiding something.” Personally, I don’t think that there’s anything nefarious. Mitt Romney is simply a very rich man who wants to stay rich. He has parked money in the Cayman Islands. He’s used every tax loophole he can in order to keep as much money as he can. This is what he does not want the American people to see. It is my opinion that Mitt Romney has legally used every loophole there is and has paid less than 15% of his income in taxes – legally. This is what he is hiding. Releasing his taxes changes everything for Mitt. Now, the focus is not on his message but instead on how the rich can pay a smaller percentage of their income than the average American. Will it sink his campaign? Who’s to say? What is clear is that his advisors aren’t getting through to him. He needs to figure this out and fast. If his tax returns are as bad as I think they are the American people will be infuriated.

I wish Mitt Romney lots of luck in trying to hold out. It’s a little like Don Quixote. Cute, but futile.

From the Wisconsin State Journal:

“The collection of more than 1 million signatures is a crystal-clear indication of how strong the appetite is to stop the damage and turmoil that Gov. Walker has caused Wisconsin,” said Ryan Lawler, United Wisconsin co-chairman. “In the dead of Wisconsin winter, an army of more than 30,000 Wisconsin-born and -bred volunteers took to the streets, the malls, the places of worship and dinner tables to take our state back.”

This would be the first statewide recall election in Wisconsin history, and only the third gubernatorial recall in U.S. history, if at least 540,208 signatures against Walker are found to be valid.

Walker was in New York City on Tuesday, attending a fundraiser hosted by Hank Greenberg, the former CEO of American International Group. Ciara Matthews, his campaign spokeswoman, said the governor was “completely booked for the day” and unavailable for comment. (more…)

What? The governor is unavailable for comment? How is that possible? This recall started months ago, yet somehow Governor Scott Walker is not even in the state when the signatures are turned in. I wonder if that’s the plan. Coward.

From WaPo:

Babies don’t learn to talk just from hearing sounds. New research suggests they’re lip-readers too.

It happens during that magical stage when a baby’s babbling gradually changes from gibberish into syllables and eventually into that first “mama” or “dada.”

Florida scientists discovered that starting around age 6 months, babies begin shifting from the intent eye gaze of early infancy to studying mouths when people talk to them.

“The baby in order to imitate you has to figure out how to shape their lips to make that particular sound they’re hearing,” explains developmental psychologist David Lewkowicz of Florida Atlantic University, who led the study being published Monday. “It’s an incredibly complex process.” (more…)

Today is Martin Luther King’s birthday.  Here is his I Have a Dream speech. (I went to the MLK prayer breakfast last year (this morning). Donna Brazile was the keynote speaker. Representative Heath Shuler was there. So was Senator Kay Hagan. Many city council members and the mayor Terry Bellamy were present. It was a great event.) Read more about Martin Luther King.

If you’re sitting in front of your computers at home, at work or anywhere in between, I would like to ask you a question — what is your dream? Do you dream of being able to send your kids to college? Do you dream that simple dream of being able to pay your bills and have some money left over at the end of the month? Do you dream of being able to go to your doctor without having to worry about how much the prescriptions, the diagnostic tests and other procedures may cost? Do you dream of getting paid a living wage? What is your dream?

When I close my eyes, I dream of a country where my grandson and your grandchild can go to a public or private school anywhere in the country and get a solid education. I dream of a country where we are not all slaves to big corporations. I dream of a country where we all have equal access to affordable, efficient and cost-effective healthcare. Finally, I dream of a country that has figured out that we are great because of our compassion and love for humanity and not because of our military might. These are my dreams as a progressive. What are yours?

From TPM:

At the Huckabee forum a voter asks Santorum what as President he could do to help people like her, and goes on to outline her situation. Four years ago her husband lost his job. They’ve run through their IRA. They’ve run through most of their 401k. They moved from their large house in the north of the state to a smaller house in the south of the state where it’s cheaper.

Santorum starts his answer by noting that she and her husband “have moved to a beautiful part of the country.”

“My wife and I love vacationing here,” he continues, before going on to outline his desire to ramp up the American manufacturing industry.

UPDATE: Towards the end of the forum the questioner is asked whether she was satisfied with Santorum’s answer. She’s not. She notes her husband, and many others like him who’ve been affected by the recession, are in their sixties, and so “I’m not sure manufacturing is going to bring him back his job.”

From WSJ:

France and eight other euro-zone countries suffered ratings downgrades on their sovereign debt Friday, sparking renewed global worries over Europe’s ability to bail itself out of financial crisis.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services stripped triple-A ratings from France and Austria and downgraded seven others, including Spain, Italy and Portugal. It retained the triple-A rating on Europe’s No. 1 economy, Germany.

The downgrade to France, the zone’s second-largest economy, will make it harder—and potentially more expensive—for the euro zone’s bailout fund to help troubled states, because the fund’s own triple-A rating depends on those of its constituents. The downgrades also speak to how deeply the concerns over countries on the euro zone’s periphery have penetrated its core.

Oh, and don’t forget Greece. Their debt talks have collapsed.

Why can’t we all share in the American Dream?