I was able to only watch the morning's coverage and part of the afternoon's coverage before leaving for a job interview, but I felt hope return when I listened to Obama advocate for health care coverage for the millions who don't have many options outside of using the emergency room as a health care plan.
In contrast to Obama, Republicans sounded scripted, repeating the mantra of "start over" and buying across state lines and tort reform, blah blah blah. Starting over at this point would only delay reform, and I see it as nothing other than obstruction for political gain. The health care debate has been dragging on for way too long already, and it has been discouraging listening to the constant barrage of commercials that sound recycled from the 90's health care debate and meant to encourage distrust of Obama and, in general, the government's role in assuring the health and well being of all its citizens.
President Obama countered Republican talking points with facts, and showed his concern for those without health care with genuine compassion. Despite my feelings of cynicism lately about the chances of the legislation actually passing, today I felt hope again that the U.S. will soon join the rest of the developed world in having a comprehensive health care system. Bravo Obama.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
The People's View
I am with those who believe the Senate bill should be fixed through a reconciliation process, and I will continue to push my Senators for it. But this cannot be an excuse for letting the underlying Senate bill wither on the vine or die. Insisting that the reconciliation bill must not just begin but pass the Senate before the House can act is delaying health care reform, and potentially derailing it. Besides, if anyone believes that whatever can be pushed into a reconciliation package are the only fixes this bill is ever going to need, I have a very nice bridge in Brooklyn that I would like to sell you. The process of improving this law will begin the moment the President signs the legislation, and will most definitely not end once a reconciliation bill is also signed into law. It is going to take much longer term commitment both for us advocates and for Congress. So let's pass the damn bill, and commit to seeing it improve not just in reconciliation but by any means necessary in the coming years.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Blackwater's Youngest Victim
The Blackwater manager asked Mohammed why it was so important to have an apology. Mohammed reminded him of Blackwater owner Erik Prince's Congressional testimony two weeks after the Nisour Square shootings. In his testimony, Prince said his men "acted appropriately at all times" at Nisour Square and that the company had never killed innocent civilians, except perhaps by "ricochets" and "traffic accidents." At that hearing, on October 2, 2007, a document was produced showing that before Nisour Square the State Department, Blackwater's employer, had coordinated with Blackwater to set a low payout for Iraqi shooting victims because, in the words of a Department security official, if it was too high Iraqis may try "to get killed by our guys to financially guarantee their family's future."
Mohammed said he wanted Prince to publicly reject this characterization of "Iraqis as mercenaries." The Blackwater manager, he says, told him Blackwater does not apologize. "You killed my son!" Mohammed exclaimed. "What do you want, then? Why did you bring me here?"
via thenation.com
Blackwater needs to be brought to justice. Thank you Jeremy Cashill for covering this story.Monday, January 25, 2010
Project for a Healthy American Future - Steve Benen
As anyone even passively familiar with the debate surely knows, the tens of millions of Americans with no coverage are struggling with a burden unseen in other major democracies. Thousands more join the ranks of the uninsured every day. Tens of thousands of Americans die every year because they have no insurance. Hundreds of thousands of others fall into medical bankruptcy — and most of these medical bankruptcies involve people who have insurance, but whose coverage proves inadequate.
To come up short now, or to pass a half-measure intended to respond to shifting political winds, would be more than just a political fiasco. It would be genuinely cruel.
The circumstances are incontrovertible. We pay too much and get too little. The system is bankrupting families, undermining businesses, hurting wages, and placing crushing burdens on government at every level. If reform falters right now, every easily-identified problem will get considerably worse. The current course is simply unsustainable for a country that hopes to have a fiscally responsible, competitive, and healthy future.
Steve Benen has an excellent article in Washington Monthly, "The way forward on health care reform in 2010." I hope House Democrats are paying attention.
Proposition 8 trial at a crossroads - San Jose Mercury News
But legal experts, while unsure of the outcome, say the plaintiffs have presented a powerful cumulative case in their bid to overturn Proposition 8. Among other things, they point to experts who've testified about the extensive research showing that same-sex couples are equally qualified to raise children and that, in the words of one Harvard scholar, procreation "has never been a qualification for marriage." She cited George Washington, who never fathered a child, as a prime example.
via mercurynews.com
Prediction: Prop 8 will be overturned. (I've been following the Twitter coverage). My guess is that SCOTUS, who just overruled McCain-Feingold and allowed corporations unlimited power in supporting or opposing candidates, will suddenly oppose the California ruling as "judicial activism."
Saturday, January 23, 2010
When the Media Is the Disaster | World | AlterNet
I’m talking, of course, about those members of the mass media whose misrepresentation of what goes on in disaster often abets and justifies a second wave of disaster. I’m talking about the treatment of sufferers as criminals, both on the ground and in the news, and the endorsement of a shift of resources from rescue to property patrol. They still have blood on their hands from Hurricane Katrina, and they are staining themselves anew in Haiti.
via alternet.org
Dear Media, banish the word "looting" from your vocabulary.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Hawaii Senate passes civil-unions bill with veto-proof majority, 18-7 | honoluluadvertiser.com | The Honolulu Advertiser
The bill would allow same-sex and heterosexual couples to enter into civil unions and receive the same rights, benefits and responsibilities as marriage under state law.
Cheers to Hawaii!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Bahati Rejected From Prayer Breakfast | News | Advocate.com
The Ugandan politician who introduced the so-called kill the gays bill, has been disinvited to the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. David Bahati was invited in October, before the bill was introduced, according to the Box Turtle Bulletin, which has been closely following the situation.
via advocate.com
Breakfast FAIL.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Stop Uganda’s “Kill The Gays” Bill Author From Entering The U.S. | The New Civil Rights Movement
David Bahati, the author of Uganda’s now internationally infamous “Kill The Gays” bill, is scheduled to attend the National Prayer Breakfast on February 4th. We cannot allow him to enter this country.
Sign the petition, please.
Dr. Martin Luther King's Economics: Through Jobs, Freedom
Without people taking action in the spirit of Martin Luther King's vision, a few Americans may continue to gather inordinate wealth, but many others, thrust against their will into idleness, insecurity or foreclosure by today's crisis, will have little recourse but to wait for relief from a capricious and uncertain economy.
via thenation.com
MLK's thoughts on economic equality. Thanks Mark Engler.
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