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Friday Distractions

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 03 July 2009 10:36:53 PM. © Docudharma - Front Page

Well it`s Friday & I`m back for your instant therapy.Just mix images, imagination, your mind, & your worries, in an essay, & hopefully you`ll forget your troubles for a few minutes.I may as well open with the theme of the day.Happy fourth of July.What[...]

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Drafting the Declaration of independence

post from The Strange Death of Liberal America on 03 July 2009 10:27:18 PM. © The Strange Death of Liberal America

On this holiday when we honor the Declaration of Independence it is interesting to go back to the original document and the story of its drafting, for it is a story that should be more widely known by all Americans.The DraftsFew people know the actual history of the Declaration, which actually underwent several revisions before [...]

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Palin secedes from office. Also.

post from Daily Kos on 03 July 2009 10:20:21 PM. © Daily Kos

So Sarah Palin has resigned. From four colleges. From her job with the Oil & Gas Commission. And now finally, from her job as governor.

Highly unusual for someone once so determined to climb the political ladder that she stayed on in Texas to deliver a speech to the Republican Governors' Association, even as she went into labor with her fifth child. But, hey, that's Sarah. Also.

Now, my first thought was that she merely meant that she was tired and wanted to recline, but alas, she left little doubt about her actual intentions with her extended, often rambling speech, during which the local waterfowl laughed repeatedly.

Palin's first draft, by the way, reportedly began: "When in the course of human... stuff... (also)."

It's truly been an amazing few weeks for the America, as we found out that GOP governors celebrate Father's Day with adultery, and July 4th by resigning from office.

This is a pretty amazing abdication of responsibility, I must say. I think back to John McCain's flaky "suspension" of his campaign over the financial crisis, and when you put it side by side with Palin's freak-out, I'm really astonished that they were ever considered a legitimate presidential ticket. How she ever made it all the way through field dressing a moose without getting bored and quitting, I'll never understand.

But then again, this was someone who probably winked because she couldn't commit to finishing a blink.

I'm appreciative, at least, that she went out in a blaze of glory, with one last incoherent blast of public word spray. I think I'm seeing starbur... ah, screw it. I don't feel like finishing that sentence.

Best of luck to you in whatever you do next, Sarah. Rumor has it that you quit for an offer of $50 an hour to go pick lettuce in Yuma for the whole season. But I think you can't do it, my friend.

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Sarah Palin: 'The Life is about choices!' Speech

post from MyDD on 03 July 2009 10:06:37 PM. © MyDD

Washington's Farewell Address it's not. The speech is rambling and incoherent, full of meaningless platitudes. Count the number of times she mentions "no more politics as usual." Here's Sarah Palin in her own words: Hi Alaska, I appreciate speaking[...]

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Ode to The Sacred Cow - Proposition 13 - 1978

post from Crooks and Liars on 03 July 2009 10:00:04 PM. © Crooks and Liars

You can view this video right here by getting the latest version of Flash Player! DOWNLOADS: 57
PLAYS: 42

(Gann and Jarvis - the boys you can thank your IOU for today)

With California circling the economic drain, it's interesting to consider where this chaos all started. A little populist movement called "Prop 13" that captured the anger of California in 1978 and plunged us into the stone age as the result. It all centered around property taxes, placing a cap of 1% of the property's value as taxable. The anger centered around tax revenues being redistributed to other communities, rather than the community where the tax was being levied, not to mention tax rates increasing for everyone, not just new home buyers. The fear card was played that older home owners would be forced to sell their homes because tax rates would increase to the point of bankruptcy for most, and certainly this became the rallying cry.

The effect was almost instant, with a $5 billion dollar surplus evaporating in a short time with services and education funds slashed to practically nonexistent. Since it has been written into it's constitution, California has slid into depression almost continuously since then.

And Prop 13 has become the infamous "third rail" by which no one dares question - challenges to the laws validity have been struck down by the State Supreme Court and politicians caught even breathing Prop 13 revision have been hounded out of office, or threatened with it. The lobby surrounding the Prop 13 movement has a vice grip on the state legislature. So any thought of revision or modification is ignored.

But on June 9, 1978 the news was pretty much like it is now. Only now we have 31 years of failure to look at.

And we're left scratching our heads.

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78

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The Worst Health Care Reform Money Can Buy

post from Daily Kos on 03 July 2009 09:40:49 PM. © Daily Kos

This will shock you, I know, but corporate interests have signficiantly outspent consumer groups in the health care reform debate.

In the first three months of 2009, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has spent more money on lobbying since 1998 than any other company, trade association, or advocacy group, and the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America (PhARMA)--the No. 6 all-time spender--paid lobbyists a combined $22.5 million to promote their interests.

Meanwhile, prominent champions of the public insurance option spend very little on lobbying or campaign contributions. Families USA, a self-described consumer watchdog dedicated to health care issues, for example, has spent a mere $10,000 on lobbying this year and only $32,000 total in 2008. Health Care for America Now (HCAN), a national network that unites doctors' associations, consumer groups and other activists, spent $80,000 last year. And the National Health Council (NHC), which has remained mum on this issue but supported putting pressure on insurers to cover pre-existing illnesses, has not spent any money on lobbying since 2007.

Of these more prominent organizations, in fact, only the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) is a major lobbyist--$4 million spent so far this year and $158.8 million since 1998--but the group has not publicly endorsed or rejected the president's proposed legislation.

Yowza. All that money spent to keep us getting lousy health care. Or, rather, paying exorbitant costs for insurance and prescription medications--there isn't a lot of actual "care" involved in those pursuits. Is it likely to make a difference with our (ahem) public servants? Nate thinks so, after doing some of his famousl number crunching:

The insurance industry's influence appears to swing about 9 votes against the public option. Whatever number of senators wind up supporting the public option, add 9 to it, and you'll have a decent ballpark estimate for what the level of support might be if not for insurance industry contributions...

The single senator who's position on the public option is most likely to have been changed by lobbying money is Mark Warner of Virginia, who has already raised $69,000 from insurance industry PACs in spite of having been in the Senate for less than six months. Absent industry money, the model estimates about a two-thirds likelihood that Warner would support the public option; with it, the model thinks the chances are very low. Indeed Warner has been mum on the public option to date.

Ranking next on the list is Harry Reid, who has taken some $78,800 from insurance industry PACs and who has also yet to articulate a position on the public option in spite of his status as Majority Leader. If the model is right, Reid's noncommittal stance on the issue might be better conceived of as tacit, if somewhat soft, opposition. Following Reid is Kent Conrad of North Dakota, who has floated a compromise bill that would replace the public option with a co-op system, a version of which the Senate Finance Committee appears likely to adopt.

There are many issues in which I think a "with us or against us" attitude is short-sighted and politically damaging. On health care, it's different. It's us, the consumer, the people who are having to shell out all this money for health "care" vs. the people taking all of our money and giving us shoddy product. And then taking all that money and pouring it into lobbying the people who are supposed to be representing our interests.

Nine votes, many of them on the Finance Committee, conveniently. Mosey on over to slinkerwink's action diary, and make a call or two to the Senators on the Finance Committee. They'll also all probably be home for the 4th recess, and will be having townhalls and constituent meetings. Ask them point blank, are they with us, or against us? Are they among those nine Senators who will be swayed by campaign contributions from industry PACs, or are they looking out for us? (That's a really good question to ask in a public setting.)

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-Reform-Money-Can-Buy

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Grassley tells constituent: If you want good
health insurance, ‘go work for the government.’

post from Think Progress on 03 July 2009 09:40:00 PM. © Think Progress

During a townhall in Waukon, IA Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was asked by a constituent of his: “Why is your insurance so much cheaper than my insurance and so better than my insurance?” When Grassley struggled to explain the details of his own health care plan, the elderly man followed up, “Okay, so how come I can’t have the same thing you have?” Grassley said, “You can. Just go work for the federal government.” Watch it:

video details and more

Grassley has been at the forefront of railing against Obama’s health care plan, declaring, ?We need to make sure that there?s no public option.? As Igor Volsky notes, there is an irony in government workers like Grassley complaining about “government-sponsored health care.” If Grassley wants to stand on principle, he could abandon his government-sponsored insurance and try his luck in the individual health insurance market.

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Liberty

with liberty and justice for all.Saturday, July 4, 2009, the Statue of Liberty crown will be open again for the first time since 9/11.There are 25 windows in the crown which symbolize gemstones found on the earth and the heaven's rays shining over the[...]

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e

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The Errington Thompson Show - Interview with
Grammy Winning Bassist Larry Fulcher

I interviewed Mike Finnigan from Crooks and Liars about six month ago. Mike is a great[...]

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-interview-with-grammy-award-winning-bassist-larry-fulcher/

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Cheers and Jeers: Mutton and Hard Cider Friday!

From the MASSACHUSETTS-ANNEXED FRONTIER TERRITORY OF MAINE...

The Declaration of Independence: Brittle Parchment of Liberty

If you are going to sever ties to your Commonwealth through bloody struggle, it is considered polite to write down why. Nobody wants to get three years into a revolution only to realize the whole thing was a Three’s Company-esque misunderstanding. The Declaration of Independence was the laundry list of grievances stating America’s case for freedom. Its accusations against the King ranged from egregious ("He has plundered our seas, burnt our towns and ravaged the lives of our people") to the trifling ("Sometimes when he sees us at a party he acts like he doesn’t know us"). But proud men would not take up arms against the Crown solely because the King had "erected a multitude of new offices." The authors of the Declaration knew they would also have to appeal to man’s higher nature, to stir men’s souls. They needed something with some zazz. Enter a hot-shot tobacco executive from Virginia, Thomas Jefferson.

His task would be to synthesize the unique brand message of America down to something that would captivate the hard to reach "12-28 ragtag militia" demographic, all the while not offending traditional "Butterchurn Moms." His first attempt at a Preamble was:

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AMERICA. A is for All the tea they taxed. M is for the Minutemen they shellaxed..."
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It tested poorly. But his rewrite would be win-win:

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"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
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In a scant 35 words, Jefferson had given the nation the kind of positive brand identity that tendered moot the issue of whether or not we had to live up to its ideals. Still, knowing the inherent contradiction between their noble words and the reality of a slave-owning nation, Jefferson and the Founders wisely decided to strike from the Declaration of Independence the phrase "or your money back."

---From America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction

Happy 233rd Birthday, America, We The People luv ya. The original Cheers and Jeers from July 4, 1776 starts in the Commonwealth of There's Moreville... [Washington's sword: Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Liberty Bell: Gong!!]