On the Contrary

I see where Canada has done away with the penny saving an estimated $12 million a year. I have often wondered why we don’t do the same since pennies are a major pain and I usually leave mine in the pennies cup on the counter so the next customer does not have to fish for pennies. Ever wonder why we can’t do these simple cost saving and practical things, but our neighbor to the North seems to have no problem. Dare I mention universal healthcare and lower cost drugs? It really is all about our Congress and how backward and dysfunctional they are.

Oh, and the New York Times had an article about the Feds pushing for some federal voting requirements across all states like 15 day early voting and on-line voter registration. Of course the Republicans are against it since they know that if all the people who want to vote can, they will be out of a job. But once again our eyes turn northward and there is Canada with a national voting system that works just fine and ensures that all the providences have standardized voting procedures to allow everyone to vote. Oh those crazy Canutes.

And just so you know, I am from California, and California is doing just fine. It had one of the shortest waits for voting (average 6 minutes) primarily because they allow voting by mail and reduce the number of voters assigned to each polling place. And while I am on the topic of California, maybe, just maybe, we are going to show the rest of the nation the way to go in the future. With a totally dysfunctional Congress and leadership in Washington, California and a few other states are starting to solve our own problems instead of waiting for Washington to throw out the Republicans so we can get anything done. To wit:

1. California put a public commission in place to redistrict our Congressional Districts and lo and behold, the number of votes cast by Democrats and Republicans actually matched the number of Democrats and Republicans we sent to the State House and Congress
2. California voted to raise taxes and now it looks like we are out of the woods financially and we can start reinvesting in our schools. Phil Michelson, move to Florida and take a friend
3. California instituted a cap and trade system throughout the state to get control of green house gases since we actually believe in global warming and our government is planning for it
4. In the last election Californians elected a super majority of Democrats in the State House so we can actually run the government and get things done
5. Semi-automatic firearms that the state has classified as assault weapons, .50 BMG caliber rifles, and magazines that can hold more than ten rounds of ammunition may not be sold in California. Possession of automatic firearms, and of short-barreled shotguns and rifles, is generally prohibited. It is not perfect, but at least we try
6. California already has its own dream act that allows qualifying illegal immigrants to pay in state fees and access to state financial aid at public universities and community colleges
7. And as much as it is maligned, California is trying to build a high speed rail to serve our major cities. At least we try to invest in our future.

Now it is true we had Prop 8 which took away the rights of gays to marry, but if that were on the ballot today it would be gone, and if the Supreme Court has a clue, it will over turn it. No we are not perfect, but watching the dysfunction of the Republicans who want to do nothing but lower taxes and disenfranchise women, we are throwing them out and getting on with the business of our future. I wish we could say the same about Washington.

Apparently the Republicans are having fun with President Obama’s claim that he is the 4th most successful President, a claim he made on 60 Minutes.  Ed Rendell, former governor of Pennsylvania, DNC Chairman back in 2000, and MSNBC political pundit, was explaining to Dylan that he did not mean he was the 4th best President, only history could judge that, but in terms of getting legislation through Congress in one term he was 4th as effective as any other President.  Here is how the conversation went when Dylan launched with what I always wanted to say and wished more journalists would point out with this white washing of accomplishments from either side:

Dylan:  I seek to evaluate the health of this country by virtue of a few things:

1. Employment – is there employment in this country; 
2. Investment and lending – is there money coming into America; and
3. Income inequality and poverty

Poverty is at record for the census, unemployment is a multi- decade  highs and  the fact of the matter is banking, tax and trade policies all administrate an extraction of money, that is the reason I am so critical of this President and quite honestly this Administration.  Regardless of that, how do you interpret a man who sits and offers himself in the posture that he did and do you think the White House really believes that characterization?

Ed:  I think the President misspoke.  I don’t think if you asked him if he were on the show today do you think you are the fourth best President in American history today he would say yes.  I think what he meant to say is that in terms of the shear product of what they have gotten done today concerning things that are vitally important to Americans, he has had a very productive three years in terms of health care and children’s health insurance and the financial reforms and saving the country from collapse…

Dylan:  But hold on a second, I just can’t let that go.  How are financial reforms that perpetuate a secret 700 trillion dollar swaps market that I just had to use my mine, yours, everybody else’s tax money to bail out for a second time from a man whose Treasury Secretary is one of the strongest advocates of not dealing with that.  That is central to the lack of investment, that is central to the lack of jobs.

 Second thing.  On health care this is a president who may have expanded coverage, praise and hallelujah for that, however he did so by creating a monopoly negotiation with the drug companies, perpetuating the employer health care system, and perpetuating the fee for service which is costing us a small fortune. 

So I just don’t see how that has solved any of our problems.

My thoughts exactly.  Thanks Dylan.  As I like to say, when people start believing there own BS, we are in deep trouble.  Thanks for pointing out the President’s BS.

Since I was out of commission Yesterday (more about that later), here are a couple of additional items:

• J Crew recently ran an advertisement that celebrated the pink toenail polish worn by the 5 year-old son of the company Creative Director, Jenna Lyons.  The press (no not just Fox) went crazy with with how this might affect his gender identity.  This from people who are educated and tells why our media is so broken because they are ignorant.  Do women who wear pants as a child become masculine?  Is someone who feels like a male in a woman’s body (or vice versa) changed because they were raised to where the cloths of their original gender?.  It was truly a WTF moment and John Stewart from the Daily Show call out the outright stupidity of these morons.  It is no wonder they can’t present politics rationally.  WTF:

• I was out of commission yesterday because I was having a inguinal hernia repaired.  I actually have the public option for my healthcare as a federal retiree, just like every member of Congress (but you can’t have it unless you are on Medicare).  My surgery was done as an outpatient procedure at Kaiser Permanente in a modern and beautiful facility in Folsom California.  My treatment from start to finish was super professional, caring, and stress relieving.  I chose my surgeon, met the entire surgical staff, who reviewed everything including double, triple, and quadruple checking meds, history of drug allergies, prescription drugs, and marking and checking which side to do (the other had been done by the same surgeon several years ago).  I am home and healing today, and Kaiser made a followup call to make sure I was feeling okay today.  It cost me $233 including my prescription pain meds.  That my friends is the public option.  Did not run into one death panel the whole time.  As economist Dean Baker points out, if we were all on the public option like the rest of the industrialized world, we would pay half what we do today for our medical care and there would be no deficit problem.  We are the only industrialized country in the world who can’t quite see this as the way forward and you just have to wonder, WTF.

It is clear that we are living in a world where the choices are obvious and yet the political dialogue is moronic and you just have to say, WTF.

Well it appears that health care reform, the sad excuse we have for a reform bill, will come down to whether we can convince enough of the anti-abortion Democrats to vote for the bill.  The sad thing about this whole discussion is that we are having it at all.  We already have the nefarious Hyde amendment after Henry Hyde of Illinois who got legislation passed to prevent federal funds from being spent for an abortion.  I personally think this is a travesty.  Abortion is a legal procedure in the United States.  So denying federal funding just says poor people can’t get them.

The people who want to deny this medical procedure to women are religiously motivated.  “Representative Dale E. Kildee, an anti-abortion Democrat from Michigan who decided this week to support the Senate bill, said: “I will be 81 years old in September. Certainly at this point in my life, I’m not going to change my mind and support abortion, and I’m not going to risk my eternal salvation,””  (New York Times).  The problem is this idea that, “In so doing, it forces all of us to become involved in an act that profoundly violates the conscience of many, the deliberate destruction of unwanted members of the human family still waiting to be born,” (Cardinal Francis George, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops), is just way too simplified a look at reality.

Should the 14-year-old raped by her Dad have that baby?  Should the 16-year old who just found out she missed her period after a wild night with her boyfriend have her dreams of medical school dashed?  Should the mother of six have another when she can’t feed the ones she has?  Life is not that simple.  The belief that all life is precious and begins at conception is a religious one.  Sometimes we have to choose who’s life is more important.  Generals and Presidents do this all the time when committing troops to battle.  We make this decision ourselves when we decide the poor don’t need health care.  It is, after all, condemning many to death.

But what I find most troubling about this health care debate is that the woman’s right to choose is lost once again.  It is not her body and it is not her life and we are, in denying this procedure to them, controlling their most intimate decisions.  Worse we are coming to accept that federal funding should not be spent for abortions.  “…Democrats in the Senate like Bob Casey of Pennsylvania who are comfortable with the restrictions in the Senate health care bill and Democrats in the House like Bart Stupak of Michigan who are fighting for tighter restrictions.”  When did we get comfortable denying women a basic right to choose what to do with their bodies?

We are such a backward nation.  It has been shown over and over again that denying abortions just pushes them to the back alleys.  It has been shown that giving people access to reliable and affordable health care actually reduces the number of abortions as people can make other choices about birth control.  But then we have the Bishops and the Bart Stupaks of the world (notice they are all men?) telling the rest of us what is right and what we must do in their world of rules.  I find it appalling that we are having this discussion at all.

I don’t like abortions.  I wish they never had to happen.  I wish people could make a rational decision about when they are ready to be parents and then get pregnant.  But preventing a life from being conceived whether it is with a condom, the morning after pill, or a first trimester abortion (that’s what is legal in this country), results in the same outcome.  So I guess sooner or later they are going to tell us birth control is evil?  Oh I forgot, the Bishops already do.  I love it when people tell you that religion is not dangerous or evil.  Because of the religious beliefs of this minority of Democrats (all good Christians) who may block health care unless they get to legislate their intolerance, 45,000 Americans will die next year without it.  What a backwater country we live in.  Bring back the Shaman.  There isn’t much difference and they were generally less destructive.

Well we are watching the final moves in the health care debate and my guess is most of the nation at this point just wishes they would get it over with.  Of course we still have the fringe led by Michele Bachmann and others spreading lies about death panels (still) and abortion.  I have to wonder if they really believe the garbage they are shoveling.  If they do, we have really elected loony tunes to our Congress which explains some of the last eight years.  Of course there were a ton of Democrats there that could have held up the works, but they didn’t so I am not sure which is worse, the liars, the loony tunes, or the spineless.

But back to the health care bill.  Most Americans haven’t a clue what is in it.  Democrats have taken a new tack, and that is that it has lots of flaws but it the first step.  And they are using this crutch to convince themselves that they are getting all they could now.  I think it is fairly clear now that if the House could muster the votes for a public option, the Senate would be on the spot.  But I think they begged Nancy Pelosi not to include it so they could duck.  Sadly she complied based upon the foolish belief that was the only way they could reach the end zone with health care.  President Obama also has his ugly finger prints on this cave in.  It is clear now that deals were made way back when, again thinking small.  They should all be ashamed, but ashamed and politician in the same sentence is an oxymoron.

Here is what I know.  The plan they have is weak and without a public option it fixes nothing.  There are real questions about whether reconciliation can be used to add the public option, but it is clear they could extend Medicare and let people buy into it.  The other major problem is that the major improvements don’t kick in till 2014 and during that time Republicans will be working tirelessly to weaken or remove them.  What Democrats should be terrified of is that if Americans don’t see immediate improvement, they will be angry.  They also don’t get that some of us are very angry now at this excuse for reform.  They could have had so much more but they are so last decade.

Here is the other thing I know.  People are not going to be happy to have to participate in mandatory insurance and then be forced to buy from the pirates that are running the ship now.  Even the conservatives I know know that something has to be done, but they can’t afford more costs being hung on their businesses.  We part ways when you start talking about a shared sacrifice, yet they would not hesitate to help someone who was injured.  I wonder why they can’t make the leap.  Out of sight, out of mind I guess.  So we are going to get reform, but it won’t match up to our expectations and the can is kicked down the road.  In the short term they will all dance around saying we got a bill passed and then nothing will change in a tangible way and people will get angry.

Of course they could pull up their socks, but it is unlikely.  Progressives like Dennis Kucinich have drawn a line in the sand.  Others are calling him a foolish dreamer but when push comes to shove for votes, I wonder who has more to lose, those who want to fail on a flawed bill, or someone who stood firm for what might actually fix the system.  What is needed is a ground swell of public opinion from those who elected Barrack Obama to force him and Democrats to finally grow a spine.  So hang in there Dennis.  You are my hero.

If we can’t reform Health Care, then we can’t do anything.  Here is this giant problem screaming for resolution and petty bickering paralyzes us.  No I am not talking about Republicans who live in another world than we do.  In their world, they have coverage and the rising costs really don’t exist.  We saw the heart of a real Republican when, in defending Jim Bunning’s one-man filibuster of extending unemployment benefits, John Kyle, Republican from Arizona, rationalized why unemployment insurance is bad saying, “”because people are being paid even though they’re not working.”  And there my friends, is a look into the soul of a Republican.  Bad things happen to bad people, period.  If you get unemployment aid, it is because you are lazy and don’t want to look for a job.  And the aid just encourages you to not look for one.  If you don’t have health care, it is for the same reason. Your lazy.  But they are a lost cause and I am am talking about the Democrats.

Okay, I will grant you that Republicans are protectors of the good old boys and a failed philosophy, but what about the party of progressives?  Surely they can muster the will to do the right thing for the American people.  Hardly.  There are two elements in the Democratic Party that may defeat real reform, or for that matter any reform.  That would be the Blue Dog Democrats, and the religious, ban abortion nuts.  Let’s start with the Blue Dogs.

These guys are extremely nervous about the deficit.  But when looking at the out year projections, this makes no sense unless you are a Republican.  By this I simply mean that the bill is actually a start to controlling our growing outlays for medical care.  The other side of this badly tarnished coin is that they pander to small government know-nothings so they are concerned about the reach of government into health care.  Again the only thing government is doing is what it does in Medicare, paying the bill with some reasonable limits on what is paid for.  Health care is still delivered through private care givers.  So these guys and gals (let’s not forget Blanche Lincoln) are basically your head in the sand group clearly in the Republican camp.  If we just look the other way it won’t be so bad.

Then there is the second group that I truly find distasteful.  That would be the ban the abortion group.  They want to make sure that women cannot get abortions.  Oh, I know, just not with Federal funds, but for the poor it is the same thing.  They will defeat  health reform based upon their religious conviction and religious totalitarianism.  I commented on this yesterday when Chris Mathews thought Congressman Stupak, the leader of the vote no on health care if it contains a right to an abortion group, was taking a principled stand by voting no on health care reform unless it contained severly restrictive language on abortions.  What a failure in logic.

There is a giant difference between allowing abortion, but not mandating them, and banning abortions for everyone.   The first is our democratic values in play.  We find abortion a necessary procedure and is part of women’s right to control her body, but anyone can choose not to have one.  The second is taking your religious view about a clearly legal procedure and forcing it on everyone else.  The principled stand would be to allow people the freedom to choose although you are morally against it.  Stupak and his brethren are nothing but religious bullies and are not really part of the Democratic Party.  Anybody read the Democratic Party’s platform about a right to choose?

So what get, and it may be nothing, is dependent on these fruit loops who no longer represent Progressives, or for that matter the Democratic Party.  If the Democratic Party is to survive they need to jettison these people, strip them of any chairmanships or power they have, and run them out of the caucus.  But instead what see is this false brotherhood of the mindless in the big tent concept.  It leaves the Democratic Party standing for nothing.  And if the country can’t get it’s shit together on this obvious fix, they are not going to address any other hard issue in any meaningful way as everyone’s selfish self interest will come into play.  And as we stew in our juices and go nowhere, the country falters.

I for one, would be happy to put the conservatives fully back in power.  Then as the nation crumbles, there would be no question about what doesn’t work and who the Republicans really represent.  But as long as the Democrats continue to include these conservatives (social and economic) in their ranks, they share the blame for the failure, and worse, continue the lie that these conservative ideas have merit.  Break out the life boats.

Note:  In President Obama’s speech about moving forward on Health Care, he never mentioned reconciliation.  He implied it, but he did not say it.  Why not?  Why not say, “We have incorporated the best ideas of the Republicans, but it is apparent they are not going to be for any reform so we are moving forward with reconciliation.  Additionally, I would like to see a public option because it is the best way to create competition and hold down costs.”  Instead he continues to think that his lack of leadership will play.  In the meantime real progressive have decided to try to throw the pretenders like Blanche Lincoln out and who does he support?  We hired him to take stand and his failed us over and over.  Maybe he is incapable of it.  Is this a case of form over substance?

I was watching Hardball and Catholic Chris was interviewing Congressman Stupak (as in Stupid) about making sure that there is language to prevent federal funds or insurance for abortion being available in the health care reform bill. In other words for Congressman Stupak, the Hatch Amendment is not enough and he will not vote for any health care bill that allows insurers to offer health insurance with abortion coverage in it.  For poor women, this basically says you can not get an abortion.

Chris, patted his ego by saying he understood his principled stand. This is garbage. There is no principle in forcing your religious beliefs on others and denying people care because of your religious beliefs. If you feel it is wrong, don’t have an abortion, but abortion is an acceptable medical procedure in this country with reasonable limits. It is a medical necessity in many cases and this stand is religious totalitarianism. Neither seemed to have any problem about Viagra being covered for men. Two people blinded by their religious intolerance.

Note to women who can’t get an abortion:  If you survive your medical condition, drop the baby off at Chris or Stupak’s door.  If they want to make the rules for the rest of us, they can accept the responsibility for raising damaged or unwanted babies.  Another unfunded mandate from the morally superior race.

“Well it doesn’t have everything we wanted, but it is a start.  This is a great achievement.  After 60 years we finally are going to have health reform.”  This, ladies and gentlemen, is Exhibit A in the evidence that our politicians think we are morons.  I guess we are supposed to say, “Gee, they passed something called health care and although it doesn’t fix the root problem or make my health care any cheaper, we should be grateful that they passed something.”

This is probably the worst example of “reform” one could have hoped for, and is Exhibit A in that other trial, deciding whether we as a nation can really address problems and make substantial changes.  The answer is a resounding No.  It is also an indication of the fact that we will do nothing substantial on climate change or reforming the banking industry.  Congress is at this point, worthless.

Now I could blame the Republicans and their party of no.  Certainly they have nothing to offer except let’s go back to the old ways of doing business and call it reform.  Their cry of finally we can let the market place really solve problems like that was not what happened during the Bush Administration rings hollow.  Quite frankly, any casual observer will tell you that the last 30 years from the advent of Reaganism and me first, to Bush gutting government so that it could not govern is the root of our problems.   But the Democrats went right along with it.  They compromised away their beliefs and their morals.

Probably what makes me laugh and cry is the “surprise” they feel from being betrayed by that jackass, Joe Lieberman, who will decide for the whole country what kind of health care we get.  What a bunch of morons.  We are having our way forward controlled by Joe Lieberman, about 4 “moderate” Democrats, and a couple of moderate Republicans while the rest of the party stands around helpless.  It is pathetic.

Now the term “moderate” is another one of those false word connections that the press has played into.  If moderate means you don’t agree with the majority of the country, you only represent a small minority of the population, and your beliefs are more in line with failed conservative ideas than mainstream Democratic ideas, then liberal must be middle of the road.  Why does the press keep repeating this obviously false description and painting anyone who wants real change as “not moderate”?

But what the Democrats have really done with this massive defeat is ensure their own demise.  No, I don’t mean that all the people that voted for them will vote for Republicans.  What I mean is that they simply won’t vote.  What brought people out last time was the sense that we could have real change.  What we got was Democrats caving in to compromise that resulted in no change.  So it made no difference that they got out the vote.  They will see that nothing has changed and just quit voting.  This bodes well for the Republicans and their tea bag base.  And the Democrats have no one to blame but themselves.

We need real change.  It is only going to come when Democrats find their backbone.  That means they can’t be afraid to fail.  It means that have to stand up for real legislation that has teeth in it and not compromise away the real intent.  Losing for standing up for what is right is just a skirmish in a battle that can be eventually won.  But comprising away your values to win the skirmish is, in the end, losing the battle.

How does it feel to live in a nation that is controlled by a small radical, religious minority?  Welcome to California ladies and gentlemen.  We can’t govern in this state because a super majority is required to do anything important.  So a small radical conservative minority controls everything.  And now the same effect is occurring in our national government because a minority of Democrats (Republicans just vote no) demands their pound of flesh.  So every important piece of legislation has to accommodate this small minority and that legislation becomes so watered down, it loses its original purpose.

Look at health care.  Since the Republicans aren’t playing, this has to be carried on the backs of Democrats.  The real meat of health care reform is access to a public option.  All of the rest is certainly noble, but without real cost control of a public option, this bill will not be able to control the spiraling cost of private health care insurance and will ultimately fail.  So what does the small minority demand? Gut the public option.  Oh we will let you have it, but at such a small sliver it will be ineffective to control costs.  Did I forget the opt-out option?  You don’t have to play if you don’t want too.  Both of these pieces of the health care reform demanded by the minority are designed to gut health care reform and leave the private insurance companies in the drivers seat.

Oh but it gets better.  Evangelicals and Catholics in the House with behind the scenes help from Republicans in both Houses, decided that they could legislate their religious beliefs by crafting a “compromise” that prevents health insurance from covering abortion.  The effect of this language is to make abortion throughout the nation unreimburesable and therefore inaccessible to most even if it results from rape, incest, or is a medical necessity.  We already have the Hyde Amendment which is bad enough, that prohibits public funds from being used for abortions, but this goes way further to say if you receive any federal funds, you can’t perform them.  That is way different.  It basically says that no insurance company in this country can offer insurance for abortion.   This even applies to the public option which is totally funded by premiums.

Now think about this a minute.  Here truly is a religious belief, that life begins at conception, being codified into federal law.  Second it puts the government in the driver’s seat to decide what medical procedures are appropriate.    For those conservatives who are afraid of big government, apparently they only fear it if they don’t agree with it.  But if it is accordance with their religious beliefs, then government should force it on the rest of us.

So the state of the state is getting worse and worse.  The majority can see the way forward, but what they want is negated by a minority because we have instituted minority rule in our Congress.  Then of course we have the God syndrome best evidenced by Joe Lieberman when, this weekend on FOX noise, he explained that he would have to block (read filibuster) health care reform if it contains a public option.  He said he could not in good conscience allow a program to go forward that would bankrupt our children.  Two problems here with this thinking:  The Congressional Budget Office says it will save money and he is playing God.  Americans want a public option but he is so important he has decided to decide for us.  Another good American who has no understanding of Democracy and has let his ego grow to unbounded proportions.

I would be the first to protect minorities from the tyranny of the majority.  So we don’t legislate laws that say you must have an abortion.  That would be tyranny of the majority.  But when the minority forces its views on the rest of us, Democracy no longer works.

So what does all this bode?  No real reform for years to come.  If people were awake they would understand that if we want to really have change and move forward, the makeup of the House and Senate must change.  And in the next election that probably will happen, but if the jobless rate doesn’t get better, that makeup may shift to those who are holding us back.  I can’t wait to see what they do with the Climate Bill.  Have a nice day.

Monday afternoon I was out in my vineyard trying to do some erosion control before a big storm moved in.  I was in a particularly steep section and I slipped and caught my leg under me, tearing the patella tendons and dislocating the patella.  Needless to say I was immobilized.  I tried to move down to my ATV to get out of the vineyard, but the pain was excruciating.  So I was stuck in the vineyard till someone (my wife) came looking for me when I remembered I had my cell phone and, although reception is spotty down there, I got through to her and she called 911.

Within minutes there was a paramedic crew here from the El Dorado County Fire Station.  They managed to remove me from the vineyard with a minimum of pain and get me to the local hospital.  The local hospital (Marshall) did an excellent job of managing my care until I could be transferred to my primary health care provider, Kaiser Permanente, for surgery that evening and outstanding care. And when I got home my neighbors were there to help out.

In other words what could have been a very ugly experience was just a minor bump in the road because of the taxes we pay for our public services, the excellent medical coverage I have, which is a public plan (I am a retired federal employee), and a good community.  Public services and the taxes we pay for them may seem like they just weigh us down, but then like a parachute you have to drag around as dead weight, when you need it, it is critical.  Having health care is also critical and I am not special.  Everyone deserves it.  If this little episode doesn’t demonstrate how important our public services are, and how health care access for every one is critical, nothing will.