1. Arnoldbucks
California faces financial "Armageddon," as Arnold Schwarzenegger bluntly stated a few weeks ago. And yet Arnold and his fellow Republicans rejected compromises by Democrats to rescue our state from a catastrophic budget crisis, unparalleled in the history of California.
Go to http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/Arnoldbucks - watch the video and then print out your own Arnoldbucks
2. Debunking Canadian health care myths
- Myth: Canada's health care system is a cumbersome bureaucracy.
The U.S. has the most bureaucratic health care system in the world. More than 31 percent of every dollar spent on health care in the U.S. goes to paperwork, overhead, CEO salaries, profits, etc. The provincial single-payer system in Canada operates with just a 1 percent overhead. Think about it. It is not necessary to spend a huge amount of money to decide who gets care and who doesn't when everybody is covered. Rhonda Hackett 6/07/09
For more myths about the Canadian system go to http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_12523427
3. Barack Obama: People's President - The Campaign that Changed History (DVD)
Danny Schechter’s new documentary "Barack Obama: People’s President," is a refreshing take on Obama’s campaign to the presidency. Rather than cutting and pasting coverage of talking heads telling us how Obama became the president, Schechter tries an old technique known to print journalists of yesteryear: showing it. His film opens with the famous “Yes We Can” video created by will.i.am and continues with 90 minutes of very diverse footage of the grassroots campaign that got Obama elected. http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2009/06/16/barack-obama-people%E2%80%99s-president/
You can order a copy of this 90 minute DVD HERE.
4. Jon stewart: Mark Sanford Consults the Old Testament (video)
http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/2009/06/the_story_of_ki.html
5. From MEDIA MATTERS
- Limbaugh suggests Obama may be catalyst for Sanford's affair: “Folks, there are a lot of people looking at life and saying, 'screw it.' They're saying, 'screw it.' Before Obama takes away their money, before Obama takes away their house, or the economy takes away their house, there are people who are saying, "To hell with all this.... I'm just going to try to enjoy it as much as I can.'” (audio) http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200906250024
Fox News Labels Disgraced Republican Mark Sanford -- A Democrat: It's just automatic now. When a high-profile Republican gets into trouble, Fox News steps in to mislead their (sheep) viewers by labeling them as Democrats. 6.24.09 See http://crooksandliars.com/logan-murphy/shocking-fox-news-labels-disgraced-
Beck agrees with Rep. Bachmann that on cap-and-trade, "You're either for freedom or you're not." (video) http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200906250038
Michael Savage in his own words. (video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwk7GWsfAGY&eurl
Fox Unhinged Over Franken Victory: Several Fox News hosts express bewilderment, disappointment, and denial about Al Franken's victory in the Minnesota Senate race. (video) http://mediamatters.org/research/200907010008
6. Senate Panel Hears of Health Insurers' Wrongs
Health insurers have forced consumers to pay billions of dollars in medical bills that the insurers themselves should have paid, according to a report released yesterday by the staff of the Senate Commerce Committee. By David S. Hilzenrath 6.25.09 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/24/AR2009062401636.html
The Commerce Committee’s report is HERE. You can read the Executive Summary HERE.
7. Poll: Independents Trust Obama — Not GOP — On Big Issues
A new Washington Post poll which asked respondents who they trust to handle health care, the economy, the budget deficit, and terrorism. On every issue, majorities of independents trust President Obama, while small minorities trust congressional Republicans.
- * On health care, 51% of indys trust Obama, and 26% trust GOPers in Congress.
* On the economy, 51% of indys trust Obama, and 31% trust the GOP.
* On the budget deficit, 52% of indys trust Obama, and 30% trust the GOP.
* On terrorism, 53% of indys trust Obama, and 36% trust the GOP.
"To recap: On every one of these major issues — even terrorism — majorities of indys trust Obama, and small minorities trust Congressional Republicans. Given that pundits often wonder whether all-hallowed independents will be turned off by Obama’s ambitious agenda, you’d think this storyline would enter the media narrative." 06/26/09 http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/poll-independents-trust-obama-not-gop-on-big-issues/
8. From the DAILY GRILL
- "[Paul Krugman is one of] at least a dozen of the same economic bean heads who missed the industry's $8 trillion housing bubble...[and are] now calling for a third stimulus." -- Fox News's Glenn Beck, 6/23/09
VERSUS
"I'm getting worried [about the real estate bubble]. ... More and more people are using the B-word about the housing market. ... House prices have run well ahead of rents, suggesting that people are now buying houses for speculation rather than merely for shelter." -- New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, 9/16/02
"Some lawmakers and religious groups are concerned the [Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act] could be used to criminalize conservative speech on abortion or homosexuality." -- CNN correspondent Deborah Feyerick, 6/25/09
VERSUS
"Nothing in this Act shall be construed to allow prosecution based solely upon an individual's expression of racial, religious, political, or other beliefs." -- The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, 4/28/09
"I've been in politics a long time. I've made it my policy, I just don't talk about people's personal problems. I don't think it's appropriate, I don't think it's polite, and I don't think it achieves any purpose." -- Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS), referring to Gov. Mark Sanford's (R-SC) extramarital affair. 6/28/09
VERSUS
"And now we have this president who treated Monica Lewinsky in such a way that it makes prostitution look dignified and ennobling." -- Barbour, 9/15/98
"[It's] cap-and-tax. ... It's really terrible. ... So it started on the wrong path and now it's just turned into, you know, it's laws and sausages at its worst in my view." -- Sen. McCain (R-AZ), referring to the American Clean Energy and Security Act. 6/29/09
VERSUS
"A cap-and-trade policy will send a signal that will be heard and welcomed all across the American economy." -- McCain, 5/12/08
"[Do] you know the one question they don't ask? They ask, 'Are you an American citizen?' ... Here they are asking every personal question about our lives, they could at least ask if we're an American citizen? They don't bother to ask for that." -- Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), referring to the American Community Survey. 6/30/09
VERSUS
"Is this person a citizen of the United States?" -- Questions Planned for the 2010 Census and American Community Survey, March 2008
9. Howard Dean’s prescription for real health care reform (video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX2cysZjdp8&eurl
10. Late Night Jokes for Dems
- "It's been reported that Governor Sanford's mistress was a reporter for an Argentinean news channel. Did you know that? That's true. Yeah, this makes Sanford just the latest Republican to claim he got screwed by the media." --Conan O'Brien
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to 'The Late Show.' My name is Dave, or as the governor of South Carolina would say, gracias!" --David Letterman
"Hey, you know what is going on over in Iran with the election? Have you been following that? Oh, it's crazy. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has declared himself a winner. Had a victory party. And he came out at the victory party and he thanked the 148% of the people who voted for him." --David Letterman
"It's a disaster for everybody down there in South Carolina. Although I have to say, yesterday, it was nice to see somebody else apologize on TV." --David Letterman
"Did you hear about Mark Sanford, the governor of South Carolina? He mysteriously disappeared last week and nobody knew where he was. Today, Sanford admitted to having an affair in Argentina. I'm like, great, now we're outsourcing mistresses." --Craig Ferguson
"Good for her I say! Good for you! Finally! I never understood why these women had to stand by their douchebag at the press conference. He's like, 'Oh I did this I did that then I took off her dress and then we went to Hooters'...I think what the wives should do is just wear a t-shirt that says 'I'm with stupid.'" --Craig Ferguson, on Mark Sanford's wife not appearing at his press conference
"The past couple of years there have been a whole bunch of scandals involving governors. You know things are bad when the most normal governor of the last decade was Jesse 'The Body' Ventura." --Craig Ferguson
"Well, you know what they say, in the way that no man can resist the wiles of an exotic Argentine woman, those same women are equally tantalized by middle-aged, fiscally conservative Episcopalians."--Stephen Colbert
"I have to be careful here. I haven't had much luck with jokes about governors, so I have to be careful." --David Letterman
"But now it turns out that he was in Argentina with another woman. A married guy, got a family, he's in Argentina with another woman. And here's what I want to know -- why can't he be like our former governor and use a local escort service? What's the problem?" --David Letterman
"You know about this Bernie Madoff, the weasel? The guy - I mean, up to a couple of weeks ago, he was the most hated man in America. And then I had my trouble with the governor of Alaska." --David Letterman
"You guys remember Dick Cheney? Vice President for eight years? Listen to this - and by all means try to stay in your seats when you hear the news. Don't be rushing out to bookstores. He's written a memoir about his life. Not just a memoir, a thousand pages! It's a great book. You can actually use it to stand on to reach a better book." --David Letterman
"This guy doesn't say anything for eight years, and now he's got a thousand-page book? Talk about torture. There's your torture right there." --David Letterman
"Anyway, the book is fantastic, and you better get to Barnes & Noble early for the book shooting." --David Letterman
"But the Iranian supreme leader says the election results are official. He said, 'It's over, the election results are official. And besides that, it costs too much to rig another election.'" --David Letterman
"And President Obama, this guy takes everything seriously. He's very upset about what's going on in Iran. As a matter of fact, today he announced that he's going to stop smoking Camels." --David Letterman
"Former Vice President Dick Cheney is in the news. Cheney has signed a publishing deal to write his memoirs. I don't want to spoil anything, but it ends with him killing Obi-Wan Kenobi.'" --Conan O'Brien
11. Red State Update: What does the ayatollah do? (video)
http://www.salon.com/ent/video_dog/comedy/2009/06/26/rsu_iran/index.html
12. Mark Fiore: Power-Cling (video)
http://www.markfiore.com/political/power-cling
13. Fault Lines - Religion in the military (video)
“Fault Lines” has this disturbing look at efforts to transform American soldiers into “government-paid missionaries.” 6.26.09 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TME6X9LQ4y8&eurl
14. Democrats May Eliminate Superdelegates in 2012
"One year after the country got an in-depth lesson on 'superdelegates,' the Democratic Party may consider doing away with them in the future," ABC News reports. 6.27.09 http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/06/democrats-work-to-avoid-2008-primary-strife.html
15. CNN Poll: Americans overwhelming support moving US combat troops out of Iraqi cities
A new national poll suggests that nearly three-quarters of all Americans support the plan to withdraw most U.S. combat troops from Iraqi cities and towns, even though most believe that the troop movements will lead to an increase in violence in that country. Paul Steinhauser 6.30.09 http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/30/cnn-poll-americans-overwhelming-support-moving-us-combat-troops-out-of-iraqi-cities/
16. WPITW: Olbermann names San Diego Deputy Sheriff Marshall Abbott (video)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/
17. The Scandalous Fall of the Modern Conservative Movement (photo gallery)
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/gallery/2009/06/social-conservative-scandals.php
18. Dr. James Hansen and Daryl Hannah Arrested in Protest on Mountaintop Removal
COAL RIVER VALLEY, W. VA—At a peaceful protest on mountaintop removal today organized by coalfield residents and Rainforest Action Network, leading climate scientist, Dr. James Hansen, actress Daryl Hannah, former Representative Ken Hechler, Michael Brune, the executive director of Rainforest Action Network, and Goldman Prize winner Judy Bonds were arrested along with dozens of Coal River Valley residents and allies. They risked arrest by crossing onto the property of leading mountaintop removal coal mining company, Massey Energy—purposely trespassing to protest the destruction of mountains immediately above the Coal River Valley community. 6.23.09 http://cms.ran.org/media_center/news_article/?uid=4809
19. Oklahoma Legislature to Consider Proclamation Linking the Economic Crisis to Obama’s Immoral Policies
Recently, Rush Limbaugh explained how Obama economic policies were the cause of Republican Gov. Mark Sanford’s affair with a beautiful Argentinian woman. But what caused the economic problems that caused the stimulus package that aroused Gov. Sanford? Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern has finally answered that question: our sins. Kern has drafted a resolution that puts the current economic crisis squarely on the backs of libertines and godless people who have produced a moral crisis. This includes Obama’s refusal to “uphold the long held tradition of past presidents in recognition of our National Day of Prayer.” 6.30.09 http://jonathanturley.org/2009/06/30/oklahoma-legislature-to-consider-proclamation-linking-the
-economic-crisis-to-obamas-immoral-policies/
20. Bateman: Michele Bachmann vs. the Census (animation)
http://www.salon.com/ent/video_dog/comedy/2009/07/01/bateman_bachmann/index.html
21. Dem Congressional Candidate's Event Raided By San Diego Sheriffs
The sheriff's deputy who broke up a fund-raiser for Francine Busby looked “out of control” as he doused guests with pepper spray, pulled out a stun gun, and dropped a 60-year-old woman to the floor, witnesses said.
Authorities were called to the home of Shari Barman and Jane Stratton after a neighbor complained about noise, and Barman was arrested in the ensuing altercation with Deputy Marshall Abbott.
“He had a raged look in his eyes and his head was bobbing from side to side,” said Kimberley Beatty, who attended the event. She said she called 911 to report that the officer “appeared to be out of control.”
Beatty said Abbott sprayed the guests with pepper spray and “pulled out a Taser shaped like a gun,” then dragged Barman, 60, by one arm and arrested her.
Beatty said: “I have never personally witnessed law enforcement officers behave this brutally and incompetently and with so much disregard for police procedure and people's rights.”
After Abbott called for backup, police cars, a fire truck, a helicopter and a K-9 unit arrived, the women said. Seven guests were arrested for taking photos with a cell phone camera and talking back to an officer; most were released at the scene, they said. Tanya Mannes 6.29.09 http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jun/29/bn29busby-melee-follow/?northcounty&zIndex=124514
More HERE, HERE and HERE
22. Andy Borowitz: Ruth Madoff: ‘This Is Not the Man I Owned Nine Homes With'
- In what some are calling a match made in TMZ heaven, convicted fraudster Bernard Madoff has been transferred to the federal correctional facility in Lovelock, Nevada where he will share a prison cell with former football great O.J. Simpson.
According to Mr. Simpson, the pairing of the two men made perfect sense: "I guess they wanted the two innocent guys in this place to be together."
The convicted Ponzi schemer could face some tough times in Lovelock, which is known to house members of a vicious Palm Beach gang, the Gefilte Kings.
Mr. Madoff and the former Heisman Trophy winner reportedly hit it off well, with Mr. Simpson telling reporters, "We're not just cellmates - we're soulmates."
In a sign of their burgeoning friendship, Mr. Simpson said, the former football star has vowed to help Mr. Madoff "search for the real swindlers."
Buy Andy Borowitz’ new book “Who Moved My Soap? The CEO's Guide to Surviving in Prison: The Bernie Madoff Edition” HERE or HERE for only $9.95
23. "De-Moralized?" by Madeleine Begun Kane
I’ve heard some twisted rationalizations over the years. But Rush Limbaugh’s attempt at blaming Obama for Mark Sanford’s failings really takes the cake.
- De-Moralized? - A double limerick, just for Rush Limbaugh:
Rush claims that Obama’s to blame
For Sanford’s disgrace and his shame:
The stimulus bill
Destroyed Sanford’s will.
Wow, even for Limbaugh, that’s lame.
When a Democrat strays — no excuse!
Just right-wing attacks and abuse.
But conservative sins
Are spinned — turned to wins.
Try to reason with Rush? It’s no use!
http://www.madkane.com/madness/2009/06/28/de-moralized/
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1. Phillip Cryan: No Compromise on the Public Plan!
One of the greatest political opportunities in memory could be converted into lasting disaster, if conservative Democrats have their way and we get health care reform without a robust public option. Any concessions made to those Democrats – and to the handful of Republicans still playing nice, just as long as health reform doesn’t bother the insurance industry – on the public plan will prove extraordinarily costly down the road. The cost would be measured first in dollars and later in votes.
The fundamental falsehood in all the attacks on “Big Government” made by opponents of the public plan is the unspoken assumption that health insurance and health care provider markets are currently competitive – and thus that a public plan offered within a new insurance exchange would reduce rather than enhance competition. To confuse the absence of government action with the presence of competitive markets is at once the dumbest and the most widespread of the intellectual fallacies propagated by conservatives as “economics”.
Democrats habituated to caution and conservatism during the party’s long period lacking a critique of laissez-faire ideology need to listen to the political winds (and poll numbers!): the general public no longer believes in this dumb dichotomy between government and markets, policy-making action and competition. The usual bogeymen and scare tactics just aren’t resonating, this time around.
Voters want a robust public plan option. And voters will judge the Democratic Party for years to come on the success or failure of this reform – a reform which, given the characteristics of insurance and provider markets, has no chance of reining in out-of-control cost growth without the introduction of some substantial new bargaining power for the purchasers of health care services.
Attempts to “triangulate” on health care – whether they’re driven by ideological identification with the anti-government ethos that’s been dominant for so long, a habit of political caution, belief in the electoral or inherent virtues of bipartisanship, or some combination among these – will, if they succeed, steal defeat from the jaws of a sweeping social, political and economic victory. 6.30.09 http://www.ourfuture.org/
2. Joe Conason; Remind me: Which political party is "decadent" and "sick"?
The supposed depravity of the Democratic Party has long been a favorite theme of conservatives, dating back to the rise of Newt Gingrich, who distributed an official campaign lexicon to Republican congressional candidates that featured such defining insults as "decadent," "permissive," "sick," "selfish" and, of course, "liberal." Back then the Georgia Republican was on his second marriage and carrying on a clandestine affair with the young Capitol Hill clerk who would eventually become his third wife (after he converted to Catholicism and had his union with wife No. 2 annulled). In 2007, he admitted on James Dobson's radio show that he was cheating on wife No. 2 with future wife No. 3 while he was publicly chastising President Clinton for consorting with Monica Lewinsky. Gingrich has remained a consistent favorite among his pious comrades.
Today, in fact, Gingrich is fully rehabilitated as a party spokesman, still nurturing presidential ambitions. So why should any other Republican fear the wrath of the righteous? The disappointment in Sanford and Ensign among the devout must be particularly keen, since they have so rigorously aligned themselves with the most fervent elements of the religious right.
If they looked honestly at themselves, religious conservatives might notice that they are morally lax, socially permissive and casually tolerant of moral deviancy -- just like the liberals they despise. So as they wonder aloud why the same salacious nightmare haunts them, year after year, the best advice they can get happens to come from that old sinner Clinton. As he so often says, the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing while expecting a different outcome. 6.26.09 http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2009/06/26/sanford/
3. Jerry Roberts and Phil Trounstine: Why California can't be governed
A few hours after California voters approved his Proposition 13 tax-cut measure in 1978, a bibulous and exultant Howard Jarvis dropped his pants for the benefit of a few reporters gathered in his suite at the L.A. Biltmore Hotel.
A reporter had asked Jarvis why he was limping, so his ostensible reason was to show a large, ugly bruise, which he'd suffered in a fall a few days before, on his ample, boxer-clad behind. The surprise gesture, however, also afforded the earthy and profane Jarvis a chance to display his contempt for the press and, by extension, the political class that had mocked him and opposed his cherished measure.
Thirty years later, the ghost of Jarvis and his legacy initiative still aim antipathy, scorn and disdain at California's government and its leaders. Proposition 13 was the first, and most far-reaching, in a cascade of political decisions over the last three decades that have shaped the dysfunctional structure of governance in the state.
Simply put, California today is ungovernable.
As state and local officials struggle to weather the state's fiscal crisis, they wield power with the damaged machinery of a patchwork government system that lacks accountability, encourages stalemate and drifts but cannot be steered.
In this system, elected leaders carry responsibility, but not authority, for far-reaching policies about public revenues and resources. That's not governance -- it's reactive management of a deeply flawed status quo. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-roberts25-2009jun25,0,2015715.story
4. Dan Froomkin: White House Watched
I started my column in January 2004, and one dominant theme quickly emerged: That George W. Bush was truly the proverbial emperor with no clothes. In the days and weeks after the 9/11 terror attacks, the nation, including the media, vested him with abilities he didn't have and credibility he didn't deserve. As it happens, it was on the day of my very first column that we also got the first insider look at the Bush White House, via Ron Suskind's book, The Price of Loyalty. In it, former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill described a disengaged president "like a blind man in a room full of deaf people", encircled by "a Praetorian guard,” intently looking for a way to overthrow Saddam Hussein long before 9/11. The ensuing five years and 1,088 columns really just fleshed out that portrait, describing a president who was oblivious, embubbled and untrustworthy.
When I look back on the Bush years, I think of the lies. There were so many. Lies about the war and lies to cover up the lies about the war. Lies about torture and surveillance. Lies about Valerie Plame. Vice President Dick Cheney's lies, criminally prosecutable but for his chief of staff Scooter Libby's lies. I also think about the extraordinary and fundamentally cancerous expansion of executive power that led to violations of our laws and our principles.
And while this wasn't as readily apparent until President Obama took office, it's now very clear that the Bush years were all about kicking the can down the road – either ignoring problems or, even worse, creating them and not solving them. This was true of a huge range of issues including the economy, energy, health care, global warming – and of course Iraq and Afghanistan. 6.26.09 http://voices.washingtonpost.com/white-house-watch/white-house-watched.html
5. Joseph Romm: One brief shining moment for clean energy
On Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) bill 219 to 212. The bill would transform the U.S. economy in four decades, replacing the vast majority of American's carbon dioxide emissions and fossil fuel consumption with a clean energy economy built around energy efficiency and renewable energy.
While the bill's targets may seem dramatic, they are in fact less than what the science tells us is required to avoid catastrophic warming. The 2020 target in particular is far too weak and quite easy and cheap for the country to meet with efficiency, conservation, renewables and fuel-switching from coal to natural gas. The definitive analysis of ACES by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found the cost to the average American household in 2020 of ACES would be about a postage stamp a day -- despite repeated claims of conservatives using dubious industry-funded research that this bill would devastate the economy.
The GOP arguments against the bill, which included calling global warming a hoax, were so lame that one Democrat, Lloyd Doggett of Texas, who had announced his intention to vote against the bill because it was too weak, switched to supporting the bill after "listening to the flat earth society and the climate deniers, and some of the most inane arguments I have heard against refusing to act on this vital national security challenge." 6.27.09 http://www.salon.com/env/feature/2009/06/27/waxman_markey/
6. MAUREEN DOWD: Rules of the Wronged
- 1. Skip the press conference, especially when your husband is copping to call girls, gay pickups in airport bathrooms or “tragic” and “forbidden” telenovela-style love stories. Stoicism at the skunk’s side is overrated and, as Larry Craig’s wife learned, sunglasses don’t help.
2. When there’s an Associated Press bulletin quoting your husband saying that he has found his soul mate but he’s going to try to fall back in love with you, change the locks. (At your second home, too.)
3. If you can’t maintain a dignified Silda Spitzer silence; if you can’t find a girlfriend, a shrink, a personal trainer, a hairdresser or a yoga teacher to confide in; if you must unburden yourself of your fury about your loser husband, go to Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton or even Deepak Chopra before crying to The A.P. A news wire is not a spiritual adviser.
4. When your husband turns into a Harlequin romance, babbling to The A.P. — yes, even The A.P. thought it was T.M.I. — about a magical encounter on an open-air dance floor in Uruguay, “a soul that touches yours in a way that no one’s ever has,” and the “left brain and right brain” compartmentalization of “the world of ideas that impact this country and state” and “the pursuit of happiness, whatever that is,” just beat it. 7.01.09 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/opinion/01dowd.html
7. PAUL KRUGMAN: Betraying the Planet
So the House passed the Waxman-Markey climate-change bill. In political terms, it was a remarkable achievement.
But 212 representatives voted no. A handful of these no votes came from representatives who considered the bill too weak, but most rejected the bill because they rejected the whole notion that we have to do something about greenhouse gases.
And as I watched the deniers make their arguments, I couldn’t help thinking that I was watching a form of treason — treason against the planet.
To fully appreciate the irresponsibility and immorality of climate-change denial, you need to know about the grim turn taken by the latest climate research.
The fact is that the planet is changing faster than even pessimists expected: ice caps are shrinking, arid zones spreading, at a terrifying rate. And according to a number of recent studies, catastrophe — a rise in temperature so large as to be almost unthinkable — can no longer be considered a mere possibility. It is, instead, the most likely outcome if we continue along our present course.
Thus researchers at M.I.T., who were previously predicting a temperature rise of a little more than 4 degrees by the end of this century, are now predicting a rise of more than 9 degrees. Why? Global greenhouse gas emissions are rising faster than expected; some mitigating factors, like absorption of carbon dioxide by the oceans, are turning out to be weaker than hoped; and there’s growing evidence that climate change is self-reinforcing — that, for example, rising temperatures will cause some arctic tundra to defrost, releasing even more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Temperature increases on the scale predicted by the M.I.T. researchers and others would create huge disruptions in our lives and our economy. As a recent authoritative U.S. government report points out, by the end of this century New Hampshire may well have the climate of North Carolina today, Illinois may have the climate of East Texas, and across the country extreme, deadly heat waves — the kind that traditionally occur only once in a generation — may become annual or biannual events.
In other words, we’re facing a clear and present danger to our way of life, perhaps even to civilization itself. How can anyone justify failing to act? 6.28.09 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/opinion/29krugman.html
8. Katrina vanden Heuvel: Time to End False Bipartisanship
It's time to part ways with obstructionist Republicans and pass a strong healthcare bill with a majority vote, which is possible if efforts cease to get a handful of Republicans to cross over. Redefining bipartisanship at a time when the GOP has become a male, pale and stale party committed to deficit demagoguery and fearmongering is the common sense and, I'd even argue, pragmatic course. Instead of wasting time on recalcitrant GOP holdouts, do what Drew Westen, author of the terrific book "The Political Brain," advises to pass meaningful healthcare change: "Focus on principles, tell compelling stories, move people emotionally and send clear messages."
Sure, there are legitimate issues raised by people I admire about the value of a public plan. Even President Obama once said, "If I were designing a system from scratch, then I'd probably set up single-payer." Like 59% of the Americans surveyed in January 2009 by CBS News and the New York Times, I would prefer, as would my colleagues at The Nation, to see Congress respond to this country's healthcare crisis by scrapping a failed-for-profit system and replacing it with a comprehensive national health insurance program.
But for now, the calculus of political viability has taken single-payer off the table. That doesn't mean we cease fighting to get it back on --but it probably means we need to balance our short and long-term goals. Let's assume some compromise in our political system is inevitable. The hard question is whether the compromise opens the door to greater progress or forecloses opportunity. A weak public plan will make it harder to get healthcare expenses under control while extending care to all. A weak plan may discredit healthcare reform for a generation. Real reform will cement strong attachment to the party which has shown it can pass legislation truly improving the condition of people's lives. (That's a key reason why former Dan Quayle adviser and Weekly Standard editor William Kristol fought tooth and nail to derail Clinton's healthcare reforms.) And for all the wrongheaded deficit anxiety circulating, do Democrats really think that if they pass major health care reform, and increase access--that voters will punish them for growing the deficit? (And the cost debate is forcing to the fore much-needed consideration of changes to our dysfunctional and unjust tax structure that will enable us to pay for these healthcare reforms.)
Congress is, of course, usually pretty skittish about reform, but with a President with high approval ratings and an historically unpopular GOP--if this isn't a time to pass sweeping reform with a strong public plan, then when is? 06/28/2009 http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut/446851/time_to_end_false_bipartisanship
9. Paul Krugman; Health care is not a bowl of cherries
Or a carton of milk, or a loaf of bread.
Both George Will and Greg Mankiw basically argue that we don’t need a government role because we can trust the market to work — hey, we do it for groceries, right?
Um, economists have known for 45 years — ever since Kenneth Arrow’s seminal paper — that the standard competitive market model just doesn’t work for health care: adverse selection and moral hazard are so central to the enterprise that nobody, nobody expects free-market principles to be enough. To act all wide-eyed and innocent about these problems at this late date is either remarkably ignorant or simply disingenuous. 6.28.09 http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/health-care-is-not-a-bowl-of-cherries/
10. The Anonymous Liberal: Bipartisanship on Health Care Makes No Sense
Whenever I hear someone call for a "bipartisan solution" to the health care crisis in America, I just want to pull my hair out. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. It's like calling for a bipartisan solution to the next presidential election.
Health care policy is a definitional issue in American politics. For as long as I can remember, the Democratic party has fought to increase the government's role in providing health care coverage for Americans while the Republican party has fought to reduce the government's role. The Democrats are responsible for Medicare, Medicaid, and S-CHIP; the Republicans fought all of those initiatives. On a policy level, the Democrats believe that the best health and cost outcomes can be achieved by increasing access and encouraging widespread use of routine and preventative medical care. Republicans, on the other hand, have routinely identified the problem as over-consumption of care. Their proposals to fix the system inevitably involve significant deregulation with the goal of encouraging the use of high-deductible policies to try to discourage personal consumption of health care. Nearly every Democrat (including the blue dogs and "centrists") believes this to be bad policy.
In other words, there is virtually no common ground between the parties. The parties don't even see eye-to-eye regarding basic goals and policy assumptions. So why on earth would anyone believe that there is a bipartisan solution to health care? If one side believes the answer is behind door #1 and the other believes it is behind door #2, the correct answer is never to walk into the wall between the doors. Yet any conceivable "bipartisan solution" to health care would amount to exactly that. 6.22.09 http://www.anonymousliberal.com/2009/06/bipartisanship-on-health-care-makes-no.html
11. Joan Walsh: Mark Sanford's slow-motion crackup
OK, it's official: Any sympathy I had for South Carolina's philandering Gov. Mark Sanford -- and I surprised myself by having some after his teary stream-of-consciousness confession to adultery last week -- is gone. In Sanford's latest self-indulgent soliloquy, this time to the Associated Press, he called his Argentine lover his "soul mate," confessed to more trysts with her than he admitted last week, and also blabbed about "crossing the line" with other women romantically -- but stopping short of sex.
Thanks for sharing, Mark Sanford. Now go away.
Just like former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman finally did, Sanford must eventually realize it's time to go. Not only did he deceive his staff, his state and his family about his Buenos Aires sojourn last week, now he's admitting he lied when he publicly and dramatically confessed to those earlier lies. Republicans used to insist their jihad against President Clinton over his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky was about his lies, not about the sex, but that was never true: It was always about politics. With Sanford, it's the reverse. The growing number of reasons for the governor to resign are in fact about his lies – and more than that, they're about Sanford's capacity to do his job – but the state GOP's failure to pressure him to leave is all about politics. 7.01.09 http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/politics/2009/07/01/sanford/
- 12. Climate in the Senate
The House’s approval last week of a bill capping greenhouse gases was a remarkable achievement, almost unthinkable six months ago. Yet all of the hard work — the hearings, the negotiating, the arm-twisting — will add up to zero if the Senate cannot be persuaded to do the same, and preferably better. The country would be left with an outdated energy policy and the planet would be stuck with steadily rising emissions.
There is much to commend in the House bill. It seeks a 17 percent reduction in greenhouse gases from 2005 levels by 2020 and an 80 percent reduction by midcentury — the minimum, according to most scientists, required to avert the worst consequences of climate change. The bill also provides money for developing more energy-efficient vehicles and buildings and other steps that would provide even bigger and faster reductions in global warming emissions.
We hope for even better in the Senate. What there cannot be is backsliding. Global negotiations to replace the expiring Kyoto agreement on climate change resume in the fall. The world is waiting for the United States, after years of indifference, to take a strong leadership role. So is the American public. 6.30.09 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/opinion/01wed2.html
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