Something to think about

Yes, I know. Just a tad over-simplified. Still, there are a lot of right wing politicians (and "tea-bag" protesters out there) I wish would see this and tape it to their bathroom mirror.
~~~

So we're a free country? Really?

Charles Robert Darwin
Artist: John Collier
Image from Wikimedia Commons

Just look at this:

A British film about Charles Darwin has failed to find a US distributor because his theory of evolution is too controversial for American audiences, according to its producer.

Creation, starring Paul Bettany, details Darwin's "struggle between faith and reason" as he wrote On The Origin of Species. It depicts him as a man who loses faith in God following the death of his beloved 10-year-old daughter, Annie.

The film was chosen to open the Toronto Film Festival and has its British premiere on Sunday. It has been sold in almost every territory around the world, from Australia to Scandinavia.

However, US distributors have resolutely passed on a film which will prove hugely divisive in a country where, according to a Gallup poll conducted in February, only 39 per cent of Americans believe in the theory of evolution.

Okay. I would really like to see this film. Will I have to travel to Canada to do so?

~~~

The failure of capitalism

Michael Moore talked to Larry King recently and here's something he said that is very blunt and to the point:

King: Are you saying capitalism is a failure?

Moore: Yes. Capitalism. Yes. Well, I don't have to say it. Capitalism, in the last year, has proven that it's failed. All the basic tenets of what we've talked about the free market, about free enterprise and competition just completely fell apart. As soon as they lost, essentially, our money, they came running to the federal government for a bailout -- for welfare, for socialism. And I thought the basic principle of capitalism was that it's a sink-or-swim situation. And those who do well, the cream rises to the top and, you know, those who invest their money wrongly or, you know, don't run their business the right way, then they don't do well. And if you run your business the wrong way, where does it say that you or I or anybody watching this has to bail them out?

I understand why everybody seemed to get behind it, because a lot of people were afraid, because these people down on Wall Street had taken our money and made bets with it. I mean, they essentially created this invisible virtual casino with people's money -- people's pension funds, people's 401(k)s. They took this money and they made bets. And then they made bets on the bets. And then they took out insurance policies on the bets. And then they took out insurance against the insurance -- the credit default swaps.

Well, I not only think capitalism fails, I think it is fundamentally immoral. But that's another post altogether, isn't it?
~~~

Happy Autumnal Equinox

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Oh, I like this:

Summer is already better, but the best is autumn. It is mature, reasonable and serious, it glows moderately and not frivolously ... It cools down, clears up, makes you reasonable ...

- Valentin

I found it here.

~~~

A story to think about

Look at something I just found:

During the Great Depression in early 20th century America, a government agency representative travelled through some of the poorer parts of the country to provide financial assistance to farmers to buy seeds, fix their homes and run their farms. The agent came across an elderly woman living in a shack without flooring. She had covered the broken windows with tarpaper. She barely managed to survive. The agent asked: "If the government gave you 200 dollars, what would you do with it?" The woman replied without hesitation: "I would give it to someone who is homeless."

What has happened to our society, our culture, that so many of us have lost this principle and attitude?

I found the story right here.
~~~

What can I say? Another great quote

Take a look:

It is not decent that people avoid seeking help for want of insurance. It is not decent that people go broke trying to get well. You know it and I know it. Time to fix it.

-- Garrison Keillor

He wrote this after he had his little stroke and got face to face with what a scary illness is like.
~~~

Quote of the week - undoubtedly

I think this is a very good point indeed:

If health care passes, will it be a grand historical achievement, or a crushing disappointment? The answer, I predict, will be both. The American health care system is an indefensible morass of waste and cruelty. The distance between the status quo and the ideal is therefore so vast that we could—and probably will—end up with a reform that massively improves the system, while coming nowhere close to the ideal.

--Jonathan Chait

It's from an opinion piece in The New Republic entitled TRB: Left-Handed Compliment.
~~~

Say what?

This is just too much. I'm tellin' ya. Too much.

Sunday art blogging

Artist: Vincent Van Gogh

Image from Wikimedia Commons

The problem with violence

This quote is new to me, actually:

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary. The evil it does is permanent.

~ Mahatma Ghandi

The elephant in the living room

Okay. Everybody's in a kerfuffle because Jimmy Carter said that most of the criticism directed at the President is about race. I'm glad he said it because that is the "elephant in the living room" and it took a Southern white gentleman with nothing to lose to put that reality on the table.

But here's what President Obama himself had to say:

Are there people out there who don't like me because of race? I'm sure there are. That's not the overriding issue here. I think there are people who are anti-government. I think there's been a long-standing debate in this country that is usually that much more fierce during times of transition, or when presidents are trying to bring about big changes.

I mean, things that were said about FDR were pretty similar to things that were said about me. 'He's a communist, he's a socialist.' Things that were said about Ronald Reagan when he was trying to reverse some of the New Deal programs, you know, were pretty vicious as well.

Well, he really had to say that, didn't he? Can you imagine what Obama's enemies would do if he ever once, even slightly, played the "race card"*? He knows that and he won't do it. That doesn't change the fact that a lot of the hysteria out there is about race - especially all that nonsense about people keeping their children home from school to keep them from seeing their president give a speech on television.

* I really want to recommend an article entitled "What Kind of Card is Race?" which is subtitled "The Absurdity (and Consistency) of White Denial" by Tim Wise. It is very, very insightful and illuminating.
~~~

Oh, my!

Look what I just found:

I guess there would be some heterosexuals in a real pickle with that one!

I found it right here in case you want to check it out. Apparently it's going viral on the internet.
~~~

Thinking about privilege

Yesterday, I posted something about the "just world theory" over on my meditation blog. To state it in the simplest terms possible, this is the notion that we all get exactly what we deserve. It is, in fact, the belief system behind "blaming the victim".

Today I happened to come across a blog that interests me very much. It's called "Life in Montage" and the author recently offered us a post entitled "I am a product of privilege" with which I very much agree.

Here're just a few little snippets:

I know this. I’m not sure how many others do. It is common for Americans to think of themselves as “blessed”: they are blessed with loving parents, a safe home, or beautiful children.
...
It is providence, not privilege, so many believe. And providence is just.
...
How do you tell someone, who has likely indeed worked hard, who likely indeed has made good choices in their life – how do you explain to someone why no one can take complete credit for their successes in life? That we are all caught up in a larger system which, as a colleague of mine puts it, largely determines our options and opportunities from the start? Pride takes quite a hit, in a situation like that; and the American psyche is nothing if not built on pride.

I want to recommend that you click through and read the whole piece. It's quite short so it won't take up much of your time. But it's truly thoughtful and beautifully written.

I also find it extremely difficult to get it through some people's heads that the rich are subsidised by the infrastructure of this country -- an infrastructure that is largely designed to their specifications. They are also subsidised by the unaturally depressed wages of the poor.
~~~

"Can Christianity be rescued from Christians?"

Sheesh. This truly boggles the imagination.

~~~

The REAL reason health care reform is pro-life

I'm bringing you another Sojourners story:

Consider two very close friends of the Sojourners family who recently found out that their unborn baby daughter has a brain tumor. To protect their privacy, we'll call her Milagro - meaning "Miracle" - or Mila, for short.

The tumor is the same size as her brain and is causing a build-up of fluid and the enlargement of her head. Significant brain damage is near certain. She's been given a 15 percent chance of survival and then only with a severely impaired quality of life. And yet, they've been told what Glenn's doctors told him: "miracles happen."

Mila will likely be delivered in December. With their current coverage, premiums, deductibles, and out-of-pocket costs for a complicated pregnancy will cost 20 percent of their modest income. But if their total bills exceed $250,000, they must pay all additional expenses. It's unclear how likely this is, but multiple brain surgeries and the additional care Mila may need could spell deep financial trouble.

But their worries don't stop there. Our friends receive their insurance through the mother's university. After she completes her Ph.D. this spring, her coverage will end in August. After that, with the possibility of Mila's severe pre-existing conditions, they may not be able to get any coverage at all.

Our friends do not fear a future where a government bureaucracy forces them to kill their child. Doctors in the current system have already suggested abortion. Their fear is much more immediate: If by some miracle their child survives beyond the womb, will they be able to afford the care she'll need once the insurance coverage ends?

Contrary to Glenn's [Beck's] fears, nothing in any of the proposed legislation would take away the right of a parent to carry her child to term. Nothing in any of the current legislation would deny life-saving treatment to anyone in need.
...
All of the reform proposals being debated include provisions to cap out-of-pocket expenses, end exclusions for pre-existing conditions, and eliminate limits like our friends' annual $250,000 cap on coverage - removing the financial pressures that currently lead many families to terminate difficult pregnancies.

Now I thought that the last point there was something of an interesting twist that the so-called "pro-life" people really need to consider most seriously.
~~~

Oh, those Christians!

I found this poster on a site I just discovered called Stuff Christian Culture Likes (which is, of course, a take-off on the wildly successful blog, Stuff White People Like.)
~~~

Conservative calls foul on the race baiting

I found an excerpt of an article called "Rush Limbaugh hits racial bottom, digs" over on AMERICAblog. The writer, Rod Dreher, is a self-identified conservative. Look at part of what he has to say:

[N]ow we have Rush Limbaugh blaming Obama for black kids beating up a white kid on a school bus. This is what happens in "Obama's America," he said today on his radio show.

How low will these people go? Look, I think it's important to talk about black male violence, or at least as important as it is to talk about any other important social trend. I don't think we should be squeamish about discussing it in a responsible and fair-minded way, despite what the politically correct say. But good grief, Limbaugh is up to something wicked. He's plainly trying to rally white conservatives into thinking that now that we have a black president, blacks are rising up to attack white kids! Christ have mercy, what is wrong with these people?

I won't have anything to do with it, not even tangentially, which is why I took down the post. I can't see this as anything other than Limbaugh deliberately trying to whip up racial fear and loathing of the president. This goes far, far beyond tough criticism of Obama. Does that man Limbaugh have any idea what rough beast he's calling forth?

Mr. Dreher goes on to refer to our shameful and horrific history of lynching in this country. That is certainly one manifestation of the "rough beast" to which he alludes.
~~~

RIP Mary Travers

The year of this performance was 1966 and I was seventeen.

Now I'm sixty.

The questions are the same today. Oh, yes. They are the same today.

~~~

UPDATE: Oh, I just had to add this next one. Not one you hear much. Worth a listen. Trust me!

Canada and animal welfare

Photo by Traveller

Someone from Canada whose screen name is "Traveller" left a comment over on my meditation blog and asked me to post a link to her blog about animal protection in Canada. I happily do so.

The specific post is called "Another petition: Amend the Constitution". I urge you to click through and see what it's all about.

Also, Traveller just recently lost a kitty and the animal hospital staff were pretty callous about it, apparently. You might want to go to her home page, scroll down a bit and express some sympathy.
~~~

Our oceans

It's been a while since I've brought you some environmental news simply because I've been fairly caught up in the health care upset here in the U.S. But I just came across a brief AP article that is very serious. It's entitled "Worlds oceans warmest on record this summer" and here are a few snippets:

Sea-surface temperatures worldwide have been the hottest on record over the last three months, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Wednesday.
...
The report is based on data back to 1880.
...
Climate change has been raising the planet's average temperature steadily in recent decades. All of the 10 hottest years on record have occurred since 1997.

This, of course, has implications for what ocean life can survive and where, for currents (like the Gulf Stream) and for sea ice.

And yet, the world's people (for the most part) just go on about their business with little to no conern and do not experience this as the truly urgent issue it really is.
~~~

Outrageous is too weak a word

My dear friend Sally, who's a frequent reader of this blog, read my post below about the woman with breast cancer who had her insurance cancelled right before her surgery. Sally called my attention to another article entitled "The Insurance Industry's Heartless Logic: Getting Beaten by Your Husband Is an Excuse to Deny Coverage". Here's an excerpt:

It turns out that in eight states, plus the District of Columbia, getting beaten up by your spouse is a pre-existing condition.

Under the cold logic of the insurance industry, it makes perfect sense: If you are in a marriage with someone who has beaten you in the past, you're more likely to get beaten again than the average person and are therefore more expensive to insure.

In human terms, it's a second punishment for a victim of domestic violence.

In 2006, Democrats tried to end the practice. An amendment introduced by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), now a member of leadership, split the Health Education Labor & Pensions Committee 10-10. The tie meant that the measure failed.

All ten no votes were Republicans...

Un-freakin'-belieavable. Except that it's not.
~~~

Misdirected and exploited rage

I earnestly want to recommend an article called "Who Are the Undeserving 'Others'?" by Glenn Greenwald that was originally from Salon but is published today on Common Dreams. Here's a sample:

This is the paradox of the tea-party movement and other right-wing protests fueled by genuine citizen anger and fear. It is true that the federal government embraces redistributive policies and that middle-class income is seized in order that "someone else benefits." But so obviously, that "someone else" who is benefiting is not the poor and lower classes -- who continue to get poorer as the numbers living below the poverty line expand and the rich-poor gap grows in the U.S. to unprecedented proportions. The "someone else" that is benefiting from Washington policies are -- as usual -- the super-rich, the tiny number of huge corporations which literally own and control the Government. The premise of these citizen protests is not wrong: Washington politicians are in thrall to special interests and are, in essence, corruptly stealing the country's economic security in order to provide increasing benefits to a small and undeserving minority. But the "minority" here isn't what Fox News means by that term, but is the tiny sliver of corporate power which literally writes our laws and, in every case, ends up benefiting.

It wasn't the poor or illegal immigrants who were the beneficiaries of the Wall St. bailout; it was the investment banks which, not even a year later, are wallowing in record profits and bonuses thanks to massive taxpayer-funded welfare. The endlessly expanding (and secret) balance sheet of the Federal Reserve isn't going to fund midnight basketball programs or health care for Mexican immigrants but is enabling extreme profiteering by the very people who, just a year ago, almost brought the global economic system to full-scale collapse.

Greenwald goes on to quote Matt Taibbi who pointedly articulates the dynamic known as the "peasant mentality".

This one is really worth reading and helps me understand what's going on a bit better.
~~~

How insurance companies deliver death sentences

I got the following story in an email from Sojourners today:

Robin Beaton is a 59-year-old retired registered nurse who bought an individual insurance policy when she started her own business. Earlier this year she offered this testimony at a congressional hearing:

In May 2008, I went to the dermatologist for acne. A word was written on my chart and interpreted incorrectly as meaning pre-cancerous. Shortly thereafter, I was diagnosed with Invasive HER-2 Genetic Breast Cancer, a very aggressive form of breast cancer. I was told I needed a double mastectomy. When the surgeons scheduled my surgery I was pre-certified for my two days hospitalization.

The Friday before the Monday I was scheduled to have my double mastectomy, Blue Cross red flagged my chart due to the dermatologist report. The dermatologist called Blue Cross directly to report that I only had acne and please not hold up my coming surgery. Blue Cross called me to inform me that they were launching a 5 year medical investigation into my medical history and that this would take approximately 3 months. I was frantic. I did not know what to do or where to turn. I knew I could not pay for the surgery myself....

Next, I found out that my insurance was completely canceled; this was devastating.
...
One of the main things I look forward to in my life is attending a cancer support group every Monday and Tuesday. We meet others who have cancer and share our lives. Four of the women in my group had their insurance canceled because of cancer.

I don't see how Congress can listen to this kind of story and not see the huge need for reform.

The right wingers are afraid of government "death panels". (Which is ridiculous; end of life counseling is not a death panel!) How can they not see that it's the insurance companies that have the real death panels?

You can speak out about this by signing the petition right here.
~~~

2010 California Protection of Marriage Act

Oh, this is really rich. There's a snarky guy in California who is trying to get divorce banned. Check out something he said in an interview:

We're going to set up a table in front of Wal*Mart and ask people to sign a petition to protect traditional marriage. We're going to interview them about why they think traditional marriage is important, and then we'll tell them that we are trying to ban divorce.

People who supported Prop 8 weren't trying to take rights away from gays, they just wanted to protect traditional marriage. That's why I'm confident that they will support this initiative, even though this time it will be their rights that are diminished. To not support it would be hypocritical.

We're also going to collect signatures in front of "Faces," the largest gay nightclub in Sacramento.

His name is John Marcotte. Go read the rest of the interview right here!
~~~

Health care and the wars

I just want to share the title of an article here:

Obama Touts the Money We'll Save with Health Reforms, While We Quietly Spend Billions on Bush's Wars

As far as I'm concerned, the title says it all.
~~~

New rule

Many thanks to Matt Huculak for calling this to my attention. It's Bill Maher's latest "new rule" piece and I'm giving you just an excerpt. Go read the whole thing. You won't be sorry!

New Rule: Democrats must get in touch with their inner asshole. And no, I'm not being gratuitously crude when I say that.
...
If you missed it, the president attempted to merely tell school children to work hard and wash their hands, and Cracker Nation reacted as if he was trying to hire the Black Panthers to hand out grenades in homeroom. Of course, the White House immediately capitulated. "No students will be forced to view the speech," a White House spokesperson assured a panicked nation. Isn't that like admitting that the president might be doing something unseemly? What a bunch of cowards. If the White House had any balls, they'd say, "He's giving a speech on the importance of staying in school, and if you spineless jackasses don't show it to every damn kid in your school we're cutting off your federal education funding tomorrow."

The Democrats just never learn: Americans don't really care which side of an issue you're on as long as you don't act like pussies. When Van Jones called the Republicans assholes, he was paying them a compliment. He was talking about how they can get things done even when they're in the minority, as opposed to the Democrats, who can't seem to get anything done even when they control both houses of Congress, the presidency, and Bruce Springsteen.

I love Obama's civility in the face of such contumely, his desire to work with his enemies, it's positively Christ-like. In college, he was probably the guy at the dorm parties who made sure the stoners shared their pot with the jocks. But we don't need that guy now. We need an asshole. Mr. President, there are some people who are never going to like you. That's why they voted for the old guy and Carrie's mom. You're not going to win them over. Stand up for the 70% of Americans who aren't crazy.

I hate to say it but the President is just too nice. It really is possible to be tough and appropriately aggressive and still have integrity. I'm wondering if the Democrats think that since the Republicans are bullies and sadly lacking in integrity that if they (the Democrats I mean) come out swinging it means they're bad people. Not so.
~~~

Friday cat blogging!

Artist: Henriette Ronner

Image from Wikimedia Commons

The President's heckler

I contributed today to the campaign of Joe Wilson's opponent. This just makes me sick:

Last night, after Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) interrupted President Obama’s speech by yelling, “you lie!,” Wilson issued a statement of apology and followed it up with a call to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. But House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) doesn’t think Wilson’s efforts at repentance go far enough. On MSNBC’s Morning Joe today, Hoyer called Wilson’s actions “inappropriate” and “shameful,” adding, “I think, frankly, he ought to apologize to the House as well because not only did he undermine the civility in the House of Representatives.”

Yes, he needs to apologize to the House. If he can't respect the man, that's his business but if doesn't respect the office of the President of the United States then he is no patriot. I stand by that.

I found the above passage right here.
~~~

The best line tonight

In my humble opinion:

We did not come here to fear the future; we came here to shape it!

-- President Barack Obama

Interesting

I found this graphic over on Pudit Kitchen, obviously. Here are a couple of the comments:

In this age of 24 hour, all the ‘news’ all the time, there is no way in heaven, hell or anywhere in between that Lincoln could get elected, he’d never have gotten through the vetting process, let alone the telegenic process.
...
Absolutely. There’s no way this man could get in office today. He could not be manipulated.

Just some things to think about, folks.

~~~

First Ammendment abomination

It's from a USA Today story:

A mother is angry about a trip led by the head football coach at Breckinridge County High School. The coach took about 20 players on a school bus late last month to his church, where nearly half of them — including her son — were baptized.

Michelle Ammons said her 16-year-old son was baptized without her knowledge and consent, and she is upset that a public school bus was used to take players to a church service — and that the school district's superintendent was there and did not object.

"Nobody should push their faith on anybody else," said Ammons, whose son, Robert Coffey, said Coach Scott Mooney told him and other players that the Aug. 26 outing would include only a motivational speaker and a free steak dinner.
...
Ammons, who lives in Big Spring, said that she is a Baptist but her husband, Danny, is Catholic, and that both feel like their son should wait until he is 18 to make important decisions on religion.

"We felt he was brainwashed," she said.
...
"They have no right to take my son on a school bus across county lines to a church to be baptized," she said.

Suppose the coach had taken them to a Buddhist temple and those same young men had gone through a "taking refuge" ceremony?

Just sayin'
~~~

Corporate America

It's a chilling graphic, isn't it? I found it on Truthdig along with an article entitled "It Could Be the End of Our Democracy as We Know It" by E. J. Dionne. Take a look at this excerpt:

This sounds melodramatic. It’s not. The court is considering eviscerating laws that have been on the books since 1907 in one case and 1947 in the other, banning direct contributions and spending by corporations in federal election campaigns. Doing so would obliterate precedents that go back two and three decades.

The full impact of what the court could do in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission has only begun to receive the attention it deserves. Even the word radical does not capture the extent to which the justices could turn our political system upside down. Will the high court use a case originally brought on a narrow issue to bring our politics back to the corruption of the Gilded Age?

You know, it's bad enough that corprorations now are considered to have "personhood" and that buying political influence with money is now considered "free speech". But this is truly throwing the sheep to the wolves.

Of course, one commenter said this:

E. J. Dionne is probably not aware that the U.S. political mainstream is already controlled by large corporations!

Good point.
~~~

More from Bill Moyers

Graphic shamelessly lifted from my friend Paul at

Byzigenous Buddhapalian

Take a look:

Bill Maher asked me on his show last week if America is still a great nation. I should have said it's the greatest show on earth. Forget what you learned in civics about the Founding Fathers -- we're the children of Barnum and Bailey, our founding con men. Their freak show was the forerunner of today's talk radio.

Speaking of which: we've posted on our website an essay by the media scholar Henry Giroux. He describes the growing domination of hate radio as one of the crucial elements in a "culture of cruelty" increasingly marked by overt racism, hostility and disdain for others, coupled with a simmering threat of mob violence toward any political figure who believes health care reform is the most vital of safety nets, especially now that the central issue of life and politics is no longer about working to get ahead, but struggling simply to survive.

This business about hate radio really, really disturbs me. Not only that, it frightens me.

You can read the whole text of Moyers' opinion piece right here.
~~~

UPDATE: It occurred to me after adding Paul's graphic above that some people may have forgotten the preamble to the Constitution. So, as a reminder, here it is:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

You can find it all sorts of places. I got it here.

~~~

Two from Lincoln

It grieves me that we seem to have largely lost this attitude in the US:

The strongest bond of human sympathy outside the family relation should be one uniting working people of all nations and tongues and kindreds.
...
Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.

-- Abraham Lincoln

I remember the days when I could "look for the union label" and I did. Impossible today. I feel pretty good if I can just find something made in this country.
~~~

Bill Moyers explains the problem

Something about loyalty

You know something? I've always believed in "loyalty up, loyalty down". But it's rare for the people at the top to believe that. (Something I've learned just lately in spades - but that's another story and a personal one at that.)

I'm really sickened by the way Van Jones has been thrown under the bus by President Obama himself. On the off chance you don't know about this, you can read about it here.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The President didn't actually "fire" him. He just didn't support him. He just hung him out to dry, as the saying goes.

When are we Democrats going to learn to fight for our own?

Here's a part of a comment I found over on Alternet:

Republicans can call Obama and liberals fascists, commies, Nazis, but a liberal can't call Republicans - and himself - assholes? He specifically said he could be an asshole as well. Also, the petition he signed included the word "may."

Fuck the Republicans. Fuck Rahm Emanuel. I never expected Obama to be a liberal, but I didn't expect him to be a conservative. I do expect "progressive" groups to be, well, progressive.

Yeah. Me too.
~~~
UPDATE: Well, here's what somebody commented about this over on Daily Kos:

As a private citizen Jones will not be constrained by diplomacy and the political fear of controversy. He will be able to speak with conviction and take aim at the real villains in our midst. Clearly Beck is afraid of Jones, hence the incessant coverage. But Beck has made a serious strategic error, because Jones is a far bigger threat to Beck outside of government than inside of it.

I hope this person is right.
~~~
UPDATE 2: I want to recommend an opinion piece about this matter that I found over on The Huffington Post this morning (9/7). It is entitled "Taking the Movement Out of the Obama White House" and it's by David Sirota.
~~~

Quote of the week

In my humble opinion, that is:

The United States of America has the worst, most unfair, most immoral system of health care funding of any modern, wealthy nation in the world. It enriches insurance companies, their executives, the lobbyists they hire and the Senators and Congressmen they buy. Right now your representatives and your president are working very hard to buttress and extend that system.

-- Christopher Cooper

It's from an article called "Just A Boy And His Dog". There's a little blurb about Mr. Cooper at the bottom of the article.
~~~

Pathetic, folks. Just pathetic.

Conservatives enraged over Obama school speech

You know, this just makes me sick. And I can't help but think it somehow due to racism:

The White House found itself on the defensive Friday over what would ordinarily be considered the most uncontroversial of events: a back-to-school speech for children.

The White House said the address, set for Tuesday, and accompanying suggested lesson plans are simply meant to encourage students to study hard and stay in school.

Many conservative parents aren't buying it. They're convinced the president is going to use the opportunity to press a partisan political agenda on impressionable young minds.

"Thinking about my kids in school having to listen to that just really upsets me," suburban Colorado mother Shanneen Barron told CNN Denver affiliate KMGH. "I'm an American. They are Americans, and I don't feel that's OK. I feel very scared to be in this country with our leadership right now."
...
Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer released a statement this week accusing Obama of using taxpayer money to "indoctrinate" children.

"As the father of four children, I am absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology," Greer said.

As I recall, Reagan gave a speech to school children that was blatantly political. And I don't remember Democratic parents objecting to the speech being shown.
~~~

Looking squarely at ethics

Oh, my. I just read the transcript of a brief address by a Presbyterian minister that is published on Common Dreams. He was asked to speak on health care and ethics. Take a look at this little excerpt:

If an infant is born to poor parents, would we be more ethical to give medicine to that child so he or she does not die prematurely of preventable diseases, or would we be more ethical if we let the child die screaming in his or her parent's arms so we can keep more of our money?

Or, let's say someone who worked for Enron, and now is penniless, contracted bone cancer. I've been asked to discuss whether we are more ethical if we provide such people medicine that lessens their pain. Or would we be more ethical to let them scream through the night in unbearable agony so we can pay lower taxes?

I can't believe I am standing today in a Christian church defending the proposition that we should lessen the suffering of those who cannot afford health care in an economic system that often treats the poor as prey for the rich. I cannot believe there are Christians around this nation who are shouting that message down and waving guns in the air because they don't want to hear it.

-- Rev. Jim Rigby

I'll tell you what the folks on the right will say about the above examples. They will say that those people can just go to an emergency room and get treated for free. That's a lie of course. They can go to an emergency room and the law requires that they be treated but it will not be for free. They will most assuredly be charged. And they will be charged at much greater rates than people with insurance because the insurance companies negotiate for big discounts.
~~~

About health care cost

I heard this bit on Bill Moyers Journal last Friday:

It is, I guess, politically correct, widely believed, that to say that American health care is the best in the world. It's not. There's a much more complicated story there. For some kinds of care my colleague Brent James calls it rescue care. Yes, we're the best in the world. If you need very complex cardiac surgery or very advanced chemotherapy for your cancer or some audacious intervention with organ transplantation, you're pretty lucky to be in America.

You'll get it faster and you'll probably get it better than in at least most other countries. Rescue care we're great. But most health care isn't that. Most health care is getting people with diabetes through their illness over years or controlling the pain of someone with arthritis or just answering a question for someone who is worried or preventing them from getting into trouble in the first place. And on those scores: Chronic disease care, community-based care, primary care, preventive care. No no, we're no where near the best. And it's reflected in our outcomes.

We're something like the… We're not the best health care system in the world in infant mortality rates. We're like number 23. There is an index that is used in rating health care systems, which is the rate of mortality that could have been prevented by health care. There are at least a dozen countries with lower rates of preventable mortalities than the United States and not one of those countries spends 60 percent of what we do on health care.

-- Dr. Donald Berwick

You can read more over at Alternet which has republished "Money-Driven Medicine - The Real Reason Health Care Costs So Much" from Bill Moyers' Journal.

There's more about the problem with providing primary care, the debt new doctors have from medical school and the whole insurance/profit motive picture. Worth your time, definitely.
~~~

Why we often believe what we believe

Well, this book has been around for a while but it just now came to my attention. Here's something about it:

Recent surveys show that "national experts" are the third most trusted type of public figure (after Supreme Court justices and schoolteachers). Hard-hitting investigative journalists Rampton and Stauber (Toxic Sludge Is Good for You!) ask whether that trust is misplaced. They assert that, with highly technical issues like environmental pollution and bioengineered foodstuffs, "people are encouraged to suspend their own judgment and abandon responsibility to the experts." The authors examine the opinions of many so-called experts to show how their opinions are often marred by conflicts of interest. Peering behind the curtain of decision making, they catch more than a few with blood money on their hands. From spin doctors with dubious credentials to think tanks that do everything but think and scientists who work backwards to engineer desired experimental results, Rampton and Stauber present an astonishing compendium of alleged abuses of the public's willingness to believe. Particularly sobering is their summary of the historical use of "experts" by the tobacco and mining industries, which, they reveal, have suppressed and manipulated information in order to slow industrial reform...

When I hear that "studies" have recently been shown something to be true or untrue, I want to know the design of the study in question and who paid for it.

~~~

Something about our "loyal" opposition

Here's the poll I just found over on Daily Kos. Very telling, isn't it?

Poll

What should opponents of new progressive Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama do first when he takes office?

Challenge the validity of his birth certificate - 15%

Equate him with Hitler - 5%

Threaten to secede -5%

Mock him for reading from a TelePrompter - 1%

Accuse him of wanting to form death panels - 1%

Label him a racist - 4%

Proclaim that they hope he fails - 5%

Stand around and say NO! all day - 10%

Stock up on guns and ammunition - 6%

Gosh, I just can't decide - 48%

I'm trying to decide whether this is really snarky or maybe just sadly ironic.

(By the way, I picked the last choice listed.)
~~~

Quote of the YEAR

Sojourners called this the "Quote of the Day" but I think it goes beyond that. This is really an important awareness for us all to have:

It was one of the primary reasons I moved here. I couldn't afford health care in the United States. … To me, this is the best system that there is.

--Judy Harvey of Prescott Valley, who now lives in Alamos, Sonora, on why American retirees are moving to Mexico.
~~~
UPDATE: You can read more about this in the USA Today article entitled "Mexico's health care lures Americans". Also, you might like to look at some comments by Democratic Underground readers right here.
~~~

Posing a really good question

I want to call your attention to an article entitled "Two Mass Murderers, Two Very Different Stories and Much Hypocrisy". Here's the lead:

William Calley and the alleged Pan Am bomber were both convicted of mass murder. Yet Calley's recent appearances have provoked no outrage. Why the double standard?

I'll just leave it at that right here and suggest that you click through and take a look for yourself. It's a good question, I think. An important question.
~~~

A bumper sticker I just found

I get it; I really do:

I don't know whether the world is run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it.

The most touching one yet...

You know, there are so many truly wonderful cartoons out there honoring Ted Kennedy that it's difficult to decide which ones to share with you at times. But I had no difficulty at all choosing the one copied above because it so powerfully reflects the central value with which I was brought up.

I think it's highly likely that I could say the words noblesse oblige (and explain them) before I could recite the alphabet and so I find myself utterly astonished that many people today have never heard of the concept. The privileged are obligated. "To whom much is given, much is required." The privileged have a responsibility to recognize that they didn't somehow deserve their privileges and so, therefore, they (we) are obligated to give back, to do everything we can to help those who are not so privileged and to leave the world (at least our little part of the world) a better place than we found it.

And this is not necessarily about money. My family did not have a lot of money but I was never given to believe that money and privilege are necessarily equivalents. Rather, I was reminded over and over that I had benefited from the enormous value of having been brought up in polite society and also from having been brought up to be literate, informed, appreciative of the arts and possessed of a finely tuned social conscience.

I simply do not, can not, comprehend the currently prevailing attitude (so popular among Republicans) of "I've got mine; screw you." I can not understand how such an attitude is not only embraced and tolerated but also hotly defended as being the truly ethical, moral approach.

I have never thought that the Kennedys were perfect people or that they were to be emulated in every respect. But on the subject of noblesse oblige they have excelled and they have excelled spectacularly. And Ted Kennedy lived long enough and persevered enough to demonstrate how much enormous good can be done by living both consistently and courageously according to this core value.

May he rest in peace. May light perpetual shine upon him. And may we all be inspired and strengthened by his example.
~~~

GOP racism

By now, I'm sure you've heard about this:

A Republican congresswoman apologized Thursday for saying that her party is looking for a "great white hope" to counteract President Obama's political agenda.

Kansas Rep. Lynn Jenkins told the Lawrence Journal-World that she did not intend to make a racist comment, and was simply saying that "Republicans have been suffering in recent years and we need a bright light."

Will people wake up and see what this party is really all about? Truly, I don't see how anybody possibly could say this and not realize how racist it is.
~~~

Satire, people. Satire!

Yeah, it's from The Onion. And here's how it gets started:

After months of committee meetings and hundreds of hours of heated debate, the United States Congress remained deadlocked this week over the best possible way to deny Americans health care.

"Both parties understand that the current system is broken," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Monday. "But what we can't seem to agree upon is how to best keep it broken, while still ensuring that no elected official takes any political risk whatsoever. It's a very complicated issue."

I guess I'm just in some kinda weird mood this morning.....
~~~

Simple concept. Simple language. Simple decency.

I nicked this from my friend Paul's blog, Byzingenous Buddhapalian.

Oh, that hateful SOCIALISM!

This is going around. Paul Rogers sent it in most recently:

This morning I was awakened by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy.

I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water utility.

After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank.

On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.

And then I log on to the internet -- which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right.

And before anybody hollers, I do know that the Federal Reserve is not technically a government agency. (I didn't write the piece.) The point made is still well taken.
~~~

The Dream Shall Never Die

MoveOn.org sent this out. Ann Callaway also sent it to me:

I well remember when Senator Kennedy's son, Edward Jr., was diagnosed with cancer and had his leg amputated. And I remember the Senator speaking out about the need for universal health care even then.

Let's help do our part to make this video go viral, okay?

MoveOn asks us to light a candle in our windows tonight in memory of the senator.

And we can share memories of him and express sympathy to the family right here.
~~~

RIP Edward Kennedy (1932-2009)

The lion has fallen. Yes, he was flawed. But he rehabilitated himself and he persevered:

The Kennedy name is synonymous with the Democratic Party. And at times, Ted was the target of partisan campaign attacks. But in the United States Senate, I can think of no one who engendered greater respect or affection from members of both sides of the aisle. His seriousness of purpose was perpetually matched by humility, warmth, and good cheer. He could passionately battle others and do so peerlessly on the Senate floor for the causes that he held dear, and yet still maintain warm friendships across party lines.

And that's one reason he became not only one of the greatest senators of our time, but one of the most accomplished Americans ever to serve our democracy.

His extraordinary life on this earth has come to an end. And the extraordinary good that he did lives on. For his family, he was a guardian. For America, he was the defender of a dream.

-- President Barack Obama

He will be greatly missed. May those of us who hold the same dream dear continue to carry that torch and never give up.
~~~

So much for evidence...

The other day, a friend of mine called my attention to an article entitled "How We Support Our False Beliefs" and I want to urge you to read it. The article is quite short so it won't take much time. Here's part of what it says:

Co-author Steven Hoffman, Ph.D., visiting assistant professor of sociology at the University at Buffalo, says, "Our data shows substantial support for a cognitive theory known as 'motivated reasoning,' which suggests that rather than search rationally for information that either confirms or disconfirms a particular belief, people actually seek out information that confirms what they already believe.

"In fact," he says, "for the most part people completely ignore contrary information.

This is very disturbing, of course. One of the false beliefs being studied was the claim that Saddam Hussein was linked to the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

The study team employed a technique called "challenge interviews" on a sample of voters who reported believing in a link between Saddam and 9/11. The researchers presented the available evidence of the link, along with the evidence that there was no link, and then pushed respondents to justify their opinion on the matter. For all but one respondent, the overwhelming evidence that there was no link left no impact on their arguments in support of the link.

I wonder if this has always been true of human beings or if this is a recent phenomenon. Either way, it is very, very worrying as our survival as a species depends on our ability to correct what we are convinced is true according to the actual facts that are pertinent.
~~~

Hard to fathom - really.

I found this over on All Hat No Cattle:

Have you seen what's going on with these town halls? I don't want to say they're out of control. But they're starting to show them on ESPN. I haven't seen old white people this upset since they canceled 'Murder, She Wrote.'

--Bill Maher

Here's the problem. All these "old white people" are undoubtedly using Medicare and receiving Social Security benefits - both government run programs. Can you say "irony"? Of course you can. (Bet you can also say "stupid".)
~~~

WHY do we put up with it?

I just think we all need to know this stuff.

Total spending on health care, per person, 2007:

United States: $7290
Switzerland: $4417
France: $3601
United Kingdom: $2992
Average of OECD developed nations: $2964
Italy: $2686
Japan: $2581

And still we don't begin to cover everybody.

Found it here.
~~~

"Sheer nonsense"

Paul Krugman makes so much sense.
~~~

Internet arguing - and other kinds as well

Here's a web page I want to recommend. It's called How Not to Argue and it basically exposes the many logical fallacies that are maddeningly rampant not only on the internet but in person too. Here's a little excerpt:

How to argue logically is therefore one of the core intellectual skill-sets of scientific skepticism. It is why skeptics will frequently whip out their logical fallacy detectors when arguing with defenders of not-so-critical thinking or true-beliefs. Even in everyday conversations we commit and encounter countless errors in logic. It is therefore highly valuable to be familiar with the common ways in which human logic goes astray.

Also the internet has resulted in an explosion of human communication, especially, it seems, arguing. Much of the social constraints are lifted when typing over the intertubes under a pseudonym. Knowledge of good and bad arguing are therefore more essential than ever for the computer literati and wannabe internet flame warriors.

I'd like to be optimistic about this material doing much good in the realm of political discourse. I'm not. However, knowing some of this stuff may well help you keep your sanity.
~~~

Quote of the week

Take a look:

Hell, I can’t, for the life of me, figure out what value the insurance companies add at all. Seems like all they do is skim money off the top, add layers of paperwork, and then screw people when they get a serious illness.

-- John Cole

Hat tip to Helen and Harry Highwater
~~~

Don't we have a First Amendment in this country?

It's the lead story on the CNN website right now but for some reason, my browser won't let me open the page containing the whole story. So I'm sending you elsewhere to an article entitled "Blogger 'PittGirl' Fired From Job After Revealing True Identity". Here's how it gets started:

Shortly after PittGirl, the former ghost writer for Pittsburgh's popular TheBurghBlog.com, revealed her true identity, she was fired from her job.

Virginia Montanez came clean on her new Web site, ThatsChurch.com, after calling it quits more than six months ago writing for TheBurghBlog.

On her new site, Montanez revealed that she worked at the college access program NEED, which often works with Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's office and UPMC [University of Pittsburgh Medical Center]. However, PittGirl often targeted "Lukey" and UPMC while writing for TheBurghBlog.

"As I feared would happen, I am no longer working at NEED. Listen. It’s okay. NEED is a wonderful organization doing what it needs to do, look after its rich history and stellar reputation. They don’t need me there as a distraction. I’m very sad about their decision, but I understand it and I am going to accept it and move on. There is no need to go to bat for me with them," Montanez wrote Thursday...

Well, that's amazingly gracious of her.

You know what I think? I think that Lukey and the rest of them are a bunch of big cry babies.
~~~

Disingenuous -- too nice a word for the Republicans

It seems Romney is claiming that Obama is catering to the "extreme liberal wing" of his party. Can you really BELIEVE that????

I'm quoting John Aravosis of AMERICAblog below:

So what have learned in the past 8 months?

1. Give the Republicans 40% of the stimulus package for wasteful tax cuts and they will:

a. Vote against the bill anyway;
b. Claim that you're the one who wasted all the money; and
c. Say that the bill isn't working, when their provisions were the only ones supposed to kick in immediately.

2. Unilaterally cave on one of your biggest promises on health care reform and the GOP will:

a. Still claim that you're being partisan.
b. Still oppose anything you come up with.
c. Vote against the bill anyway.

For a long time now I've wished the Democrats would grow some spine. I keep getting disappointed.

Sigh.

You can read all of John's post right here.
~~~